mra§ra&ra& 


The  University  of  Vermont 


>:■;''■■:  ;■.'■ 


Centennial  Anniversary, 


*j 


Bill 


1804-1904 


iim| 


H  SSI 

-  I  ~^f# 

ill  If 


Hi 


•';-.A: 


$rui>tm 

ET  fSJEBUfr 
«6Nfeft» 


""SfilSsBS 


^M 


■.,-;■ 


Mia 


M 


SHE 


v  ,v. 


■i 


silllllill 


:-:-V'>;^  ■;::-■:-■:■':- 


■i 


tm 
mm 


n 


*«& 


8Si| 


i^^^^^ 


11111111 


IlIflHHMsl  --:-V  ill 

lIBf 


Tit.  -  ■ 


0 


w 


« '? 


LI]  '•  RA  RY 

01    I  ill 

University  of  California. 


/sjv- 


Class 


\) 


"University  of  IDermont 

jfount>e&  1791 


CENTENNIAL   ANNIVERSARY 
i 804- i 904 


GENERAL  IRA  ALLEN 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 


Zbe  Centennial  Hnniverear\> 


of  tbe 


Graduation  of  tbe  jFitst  Class 


July  Third  to  Seventh    1904 


BURLINGTON  VT. 

1905 


BURLINGTON 

FBEE    PRESS    PRINTING    CO. 

1905 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Sketch  of  the  Commemoration 1-13 

Committee  of  the  Faculty  and  Auxiliary  Committees..  2 

Flag  Staff  Presented  and  Flag  Raising 5 

Class  Day  and   Senior  Promenade 5 

The  Tempest  of  Shakspere  presented  at  Grassmount. . .  7 

Honorary  Degrees  Conferred   8-11 

President's   Reception    12 

Burlington  Day  and  Cruise  on  Lake  Champlain 12 

Sunday,  July  the  third 

Prayer  before  Sermon i 15 

Baccalaureate  Sermon,   by  the  President 18 

Address  before    the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 

by   Rev.   George   B.   Spalding,   1856 32 

Cuesday,  3uly  tbc  Tiftb 

THE   ALUMNI   CONFERENCE   ON   THE   INFLUENCE  OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY  IN  THE  WORLD 53-163 

1.  The  Advance  in   International  Relations   During 

the    XIXth    Century,    by    John    Adam    Kasson, 
1842    55 

2.  The  University  as  Preserver  and  Teacher  of  the 

Experience   of    Nations,    by    Charles    A.    Kent, 
185fi , 68 

3.  The  Relation   of  College   Education   to   Business 

Pursuits,,  by  John  Heman   Converse,   1861 79 

4.  The  Relation  of  the  University  to  Practical  So- 

ciology, by  Davis  Rich  Dewey,  1879 95 

5.  Philosophy  and  American  National  Life,  by  John 

Dewey    1879    106 

6.  The    Nature   of    a    Liberal    Education,    by    James 

Rignall  Wheeler,  1880   114 

7.  Greek   Papyri   Recently   Discovered   in    Egypt,    by 

Kirby   Flower   Smith,    1884 124 

8.  Medicine  as  a  Learned  Profession,  by  John  Henry 

Blodgett,   1895    . ., 145 

9.  The  Influence  of  the  University  in  the  Field  of 

Agriculture,  by  Vinton  Albert  Clark,  1898 156 


THE    ALUMNI     BREAKFAST 165-208 

Address  of  Welcome  by  President  John  H.  Converse  167 

Speech  of  Henry  Wayland  Hill,  1876 168 

President  Converse  Presents   President-elect  Charles 

A.  Catlin,  1873   178 

Report  of  Centennial  Fund  Committee,  by  C.  A.  Cat- 
lin,  Chairman    179 

Speech  of  Edmund  Cary  Bass,  1859 184 

Speech  of  Eugene  Noble  Foss,  1881 187 

Speech  of  Robert  Dewey  Benedict,  1848 193 

Resolutions  of  Educational  Convention  in  Japan 195 

Suggestions    on    Resolutions    Offered,    by    Judge    Mc- 
Laughlin   197 

Resolutions  in  Response  to  Japanese  Resolutions 198 

Speech  of  Wilbur  Olin  Atwater,  1865 199 

Speech  of  Charles  Bentine  McLaughlin,  1879 203 

Speech  of  Daniel  Leavens  Cady,  1886 207 

Address  at  Laying  of  the  Corner-stone  of  the  New  Med 
ical  Building,  by  Henry  Crain  Tinkham,  1883,  Dean 

of  Medical  College    209 

Olcdncsdavt  3uly  the  Sixth 

THE    CENTENNIAL    ORATION 217 

A  Retrospect    219 

A  Prospect   331 

By  Daniel  Pearl  Kingsley,  1881 

OUR  GUESTS:    SPEECHES  AT  THE  LUNCHEON 257-290 

The   President    Introduces    the     Speaking     after 

Luncheon 259 

Governor  McCullough's  Speech  , 261 

Justice  Brewer's  Speech    266 

President  Angell's   Speech    272 

President  Tucker's  Speech    280 

President  Hopkins's  Speech   , 281 

Vice-Principal  Moyse's   Speech    284 

President   Brainerd's    Speech    289 

The    President   Announces   the   Acquisition    of    an 

Athletic    Field    290 

Registration  of  Delegates  and  Invited  Guests 295 

Registration  of  Alumni   298 


or  THC    ' 


DIVERSITY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 


SKETCH  OF  THE  COMMEMORATION 


The  University  of  Vermont  began  its  centennial  ob- 
servances at  the  commencement  in  1891,  the  hundredth  an- 
niversary of  the  granting  of  the  Charter,  at  which  time  Hon. 
Robert  D.  Benedict  of  the  class  of  1848  presented  in  his 
University  oration  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  events 
which  preceded  and  followed  the  issuing  of  that  document. 
And  the  University  oration  of  1892  by  Professor  J.  E. 
Goodrich,  1853,  discussed  the  character  and  public  services 
of  General  Ira  Allen,  the  principal  Founder  of  the  insti- 
tution. The  Organization  of  the  University  as  a  teaching 
body  dates  from  the  fall  of  1800,  although  the  first  year 
was    necessarily   devoted   to    preparatory    studies. 

As  both  the  founding  and  the  organization  of  the 
institution  had  been  allowed  to  pass  unmarked  by  any  spe- 
cial observance  of  the  fiftieth  year,  it  was  obviously  best 
to  reckon  from  the  Semi-Centennial  of  1854,  which  had 
signalized,  not  the  foundation  of  the  college,  but  the  first 
completion  by  a  group  of  students  of  the  prescribed  col- 
legiate course.  It  will  be  noted,  if  comparison  be  made 
with  other  college  celebrations,  that  the  date  selected  loses 
four  full  years  from  the  actual  life  of  the  University.  Har- 
vard, for  example,  commemorates  the  year  1636,  while  its 
first  degrees  were  not  given  till  1642.  Relatively  then  to 
other  American  colleges,  our  semi-centennial  observance 
would  seem  to  have  been  from  four  to  thirteen  years  be- 
lated. 


2  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1903-1904  the  President 
of  the  University  designated  a  committee  of  the  faculty 
to  arrange  for  the  celebration  of  the  Hundredth  Anniver- 
sary of  the  Graduation  of  the  first  class.  This  General 
Committee  included  the  President,  Professors  J.  E.  Good- 
rich, S.  F.  Emerson,  Frederick  Tupper,  Jr.,  J.  W.  Votey, 
George  E.  Howes  (secretary),  Lyman  Allen,  John  B. 
Wheeler  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Cloudman.  The  plan  outlined 
after  several  conferences  was  approved  by  the  Faculty  De- 
cember 16,  1903,  and  the  committee  was  empowered  to 
carry  it  into  effect.  The  distinctive  feature  in  the  scheme 
was  the  discussion  on  Tuesday  of  commencement  week 
by  graduates  of  this  University  of  the  theme,  "The  Influ- 
ence of  the  University  in  the  World."  The  word  university 
was  meant  to  be  taken  in  its  most  general  sense,  and  the 
survey  to  include  the  higher  education  in  its  present  wide 
and  varied  development. 

The  following  auxiliary  committees  also  worked  early 
and  late  and  helped  to  make  the  Centennial  Commencement 
the  success  it  was : 

Committee  on  Entertainment:  Charles  E.  Allen,  1859, 
Edmund  C.  Mower,  1892.  Rev.  George  Y.  Bliss,  1889, 
Frank  R.  Wells,  1893,  Frank  H.  Crandall,  1886,  Henry  B. 
Shaw,  1896. 

Committee  on  Ceremonial:  Professors  Frederick  Tup- 
per, Jr.,  George  W.  Benedict,  James  N.  Jenne,  Carleton  B. 
Stetson,  and  Capt.  Lawrence  S.  Miller. 

Citizens'  Committee:  Bradley  B.  Smalley,  Daniel  W. 
Robinson,  Charles  P.  Smith,  William  J.  Van  Patten,  Henry 
L.  Ward,  1882. 

Press  Committee:  Walter  B.  Gates,  1881.  Joseph  Auld, 
Rev.  Evan  Thomas. 


SKETCH     OF     COMMEMORATION  3 

The    invitation    sent   to   the    institutions    and    individuals 
asked  to  participate  was  in  the  following  form : 

MDCCCIV  MDCCCCIV 

The  President,  Trustees  and  Faculties  of 

THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

request  the  honor  of  the  presence  of 

at  the   exercises  connected  with 
THE  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 
July  third  to  seventh,  nineteen  hundred  and  four 
The  favor  of  a  reply  is  requested 

The  graduates  and  friends  of  the  University  rallied 
in  full  ranks  to  attend  the  festival.  Some  of  the  older 
men  felt  a  keen  satisfaction  in  inspecting  the  new  buildings 
and  laboratories  of  the  institution,  while  all  were  soberly 
jubilant  over  the  gains  of  recent  years,  both  in  attend- 
ance and  in  appliances  for  instruction.  A  spirit  of  con- 
fidence and  hope  characterized  all  the  gatherings  of  the 
week.  The  city  of  Burlington  shared  in  the  hospitality 
and  the  felicitations  of  the  time,  and  by  its  committee  and 
by  the  hearty  co-operation  of  individual  citizens  did  much 
to  give  effect  to  the  plans  of  those  who  acted  for  the  Uni- 
versity. The  State  and  City  governments  were  represented 
in  the  various  public  exercises,,  and  the  distinguished 
guests  who  participated  by  special  invitation  added  greatly 
to  the  enjoyment  and  the  impressiveness  of  the  com- 
memoration. 

The  services  of  Sunday,  July  the  third,  were  preluded 
by  the  Kingsley  Prize  Speaking  at  the  College  Street 
church  at  half  past  seven  on   Saturday  evening. 


4  university    of   vermont 

Baccalaureate    Sunday 

At  four  o'clock  on  Sunday  in  the  same  church  came 
the  sermon  to  the  graduating-  classes  of  all  the  depart- 
ments by  the  President,  the  thirty-third  in  the  series  given 
by  him.  After  the  singing  by  the  congregation  led  by 
a  double  quartette  from  the  graduating  class,  of  R.  Bax- 
ter's stirring  hymn,  "Ye  holy  angels  bright,"  Professor 
Goodrich  read  the  Scripture  lesson  from  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  and  offered  prayer.  Mrs.  George  E.  Howes 
sang  Handel's  air,  "He  shall  feed  his  flock,"  after  which 
President  Buckham  spoke  from  John  ii.  25  on  "The  Ideal 
Life  Real,"  with  special  application  at  the  close  of  the 
discourse  to  the  candidates  for  graduation.  The  services 
were  brought  to  a  close  by  the  whole  congregation  join- 
ing in  the  old  German  choral,  "Now  thank  we  all  our 
God,"  and  the  benediction  by  the   President. 

At  half  past  seven  in  the  evening  the  anniversary  of 
the  University  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  (suc- 
cessor and  heir  of  the  Society  for  Religious  Inquiry)  was 
held  in  the  old  First  Church.  An  anthem  by  the  choir 
was  followed  by  a  lesson  from  the  Scriptures  read  by 
Rev.  G.  G.  Atkins,  the  pastor  of  the  parish,  a  bass  solo 
by  Dr.  J.  C.  Hindes,  and  prayer  by  Rev.  George  F.  Her- 
rick,  D.  D.,  of  Constantinople,  of  the  class  of  1856.  Then, 
after  a  congregational  hymn — Bishop  Coxe's  *'(  )  where 
are  kings  and  empires  now" — Rev.  George  B.  Spalding, 
D.  D.,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  also  of  the  class  of  1856,  was 
introduced  as  the  speaker  of  the  evening.  The  theme 
of  his  address  was.  "The  Challenge  of  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury." After  the  singing  by  the  congregation  of  Luther's 
hymn,  "A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God,"  the  benediction 
was  given  by  Dr.  Herrick. 


sketch    of    commemoration  5 

Class  Day 

Monday,  the  fourth  of  July,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing saw  the  Raising-  of  the  Flag*  on  the  College  Green 
with  appropriate  music  and  due  ceremonial. 

At  half  past  ten  o'clock  the  Athletic  Association  gath- 
ered at  the  chapel  for  their  annual  meeting. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  Class  Day  exercises 
at  the  Pine  Grove  on  the  Green  were  witnessed  by  a  large 
concourse   of   friends    and   visitors. 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  College  campus  was  played  a 
game  of  base  ball  between  Alumni  and  Undergraduates, 
which  resulted  in  favor  of  the  latter. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  occurred  the  usual 
Senior  Promenade  at  the  Billings  Library.  This  as  well 
as  the  previous  Class  Day  exercises  was  enlivened  by  the 
music   of   Wilder's   orchestra   of   Montpelier. 

Alumni  Day 

On  Tuesday  at  eight  in  the  morning  the  Engineering 
Alumni  gathered  for  a  reunion  at  the  Williams  Science 
Hall,  and  at  the  same  hour  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society 
held   its   regular   business   meeting. 

At  half  past  nine  occurred  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Associate  Alumni  in  the  chapel,,  John  H.  Converse,  LL.  D. 
1861,  presiding. 

At  eleven  o'clock  in  the  Unitarian  church  occurred 
the  more  formal  celebration  of  the  Alumni  Conference 
on  "The  Influence  of  the  University  in  the  World."  After 
a  musical  selection  by  Waterman's  orchestra  the  chair- 
man,  Hon.   Robert   D.    Benedict  of   Brooklyn,   N.   Y.,   in- 


*  The  flag  staff,  81  feet  in  length,  was  given  by  the  Robinson- 
Edwards  Lumber  Company;  and  the  new  flag,  the  gift  of  H.  W. 
Allen  &  Company,  was  raised  to  its  place  by  Mrs.  D.  W.  Robinson 
to  the  strains  of  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner". 


6  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

troduced  Hon.  John  A.  Kasson,  LL.  D.,  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  1842,  as  the  first  speaker.  Five  papers  in  all  were 
orally  presented,  the  four  remaining  essays  being  neces- 
sarily deferred  till  the  issue  of  this  volume,  as  the  Alumni 
Breakfast  had  been  arranged  to  follow  in  the  Gymnasium. 

This  began  at  one  o'clock,  about  350  seats  being  oc- 
cupied at  the  four  long  tables.  Grace  was  said  by  Doctor 
G.  B.  Spalding.  When  three-fourths  of  an  hour  had  been 
devoted  to  the  lunch  and  to  general  conversation,  the  retir- 
ing president,  Mr.  John  H.  Converse,  congratulated  the 
assembly  on  the  favorable  auspices  under  which  they  were 
gathered,  and  presented  as  the  principal  speaker  of  the 
occasion  Senator  Henry  W.  Hill  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  1876. 
Mr.  Charles  A.  Catlin  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  1873,  who  at 
the  meeting  of  the  morning  had  been  chosen  president  of 
the  Association,  made  a  full  report  for  the  Centennial 
Fund  Committee,  showing  a  total  of  $190,203  contributed 
or  pledged  by  253  graduates  of  the  University,  with  $24,- 
230  subscribed  by  37  other  friends.  Vigorous  and  stimu- 
lating speeches  were  made  by  several  of  the  alumni  present, 
and  a  few  additional  subscriptions  were  announced  before 
the  gathering  broke  up. 

At  four  o'clock  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  Medical 
building  was  laid  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  Rev. 
Samuel  N.  Jackson,  of  Burlington,  of  the  medical  class  of 
1871,  offered  prayer.  President  Buckham  gave  a  brief 
resume  of  the  history  of  the  medical  department,  paying 
special  tribute  to  Mr.  John  P.  Howard  for  his  gifts  to 
the  University  and  the  City,  among  which  was  the  medical 
building  burned  in  January,  1904.  He  then  introduced 
Professor  Henry  C.  Tinkham,  the  dean  of  the  Medical 
department,  who  spoke  on  the  recent  advance  in  medicine 
and  surgery,  and  the  need  of  new  and  augmented  appli- 
ances for  instruction  and  investigation.     The  corner-stone 


SKETCH     OF     COMMEMORATION  7 

was  laid  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  the  Hon.  John  G. 
McCullough,  of  Bennington.  Speeches  by  ex-Governor 
Urban  A.  Woodbury  and  Professor  A.  F.  A.  King  con- 
cluded the  exercises. 

At  half  past  seven  in  the  evening  Shakspere's  "Tem- 
pest" was  presented  on  the  lawn  at  Grassmount  by  young 
men  and  young  women  of  the  University.  And  the 
play  was  repeated  on  the  following  evening  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  failed  to  see  the  first  performance. 

Into  the  vacant  hours  of  day  and  night  on  Tuesday, 
as  also  on  Monday  and  Wednesday,  were  crowded  many 
very  enjoyable  receptions  and  reunions,  breakfasts  and 
suppers,   of  the   various    fraternities   and   classes. 

Commencement  Day 

The  ceremonies  of  Wednesday,  the  sixth  of  July,  be- 
gan at  ten  o'clock  with  the  procession  of  guests  and  gradu- 
ates from  the  University  to  the  Howard  Opera  House. 
To  the  music  of  Sherman's  military  band,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  marshal,*  Capt.  Henry  O.  Wheeler,  1867, 
marched  the  undergraduates  of  the  academical  and  medical 
departments ;  next  the  alumni  in  the  reverse  order  of 
graduation ;  then  the  two'  graduating  classes,  academic  and 
medical,  and  the  faculties;  then  the  delegates  to  the  Uni- 
versity and  other  invited  guests,  the  officials  of  the  City, 
the  trustees  of  the  University,  the  Governor's  staff,  and 
the  Governor  of  the  State  with  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity. There  were  over  500  persons  in  the  column,  which 
extended  over  four  city  blocks,  and  a  large  proportion  of 
these  were  in  academic  costume.  Within  the  Opera  House 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Allen,  1859,  acted  as  marshal. 


*  The  aides  to  the  marshal  were  H.  B.  Chittenden,  ex- 1871,  D. 
C.  Hawley,  1878,  G.  W.  Benedict,  1893,  Lyman  Allen,  1893,  and 
Carl  B.  Brownell,  1899. 


B  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

After  music  by  Waterman's  orchestra  and  prayer  by 
President  Henry  Hopkins,  D.  D..  of  Williams  College, 
Hon.  Darwin  P.  Kingsley  of  New  York  city,  1881,  de- 
livered the  Centennial  Oration.  The  candidates  for  gradu- 
ation in  course  were  then  presented  and  received  their 
degrees.  After  which  honorary  degrees  were  conferred  by 
the  President  of  the  University  upon  the  gentlemen  named 
below : 

DOCTOR  OF  LAWS 

John  Griffith  McCullough,  Governor  of  the  State 
of  Vermont,  worthy  successor  of  the  long  line  of  states- 
men who  for  the  past  hundred  years  have  filled  the  office 
of   chief   magistrate   of   the   Commonwealth ; 

James  Burrill  Angeel,  ex-President  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Vermont,  President  for  thirty-three  years  of  the 
University  of  Michigan,  Dean  of  American  university 
presidents — an  inspiring  teacher,  able  in  administration, 
skillful  in  diplomacy,  persuasive  in  speech,  admired  and 
loved  by  thousands  of  pupils  in  the  three  universities 
which  have  enjoyed  his  services ; 

David  Josiah  Brewer,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  in  law  learned,  in  equitv 
broad-minded,  in  humanity  large-hearted,  eloquent  as  an 
orator ; 

John  Stephen  Michaud,  Bishop  of  Burlington, 
worthy  head  of  an  episcopate  which  has  exemplified  the 
union  of  loyalty  with  charity,  of  zeal  with  urbanity ; 

Albert  Freeman  Africanus  King,  senior  Professor 
in  the  Medical  Department,  Professor  in  Columbian  Uni- 
versity,  learned  specialist,  author; 


SKETCH     OF     COMMEMORATION  9 

Wendell  Phillips  .  Stafford,  ex-Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Vermont,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  orator,  poet; 

Charles  Artemas  Kent,  Professor  of  Law  in  the 
University  of  Michigan,  able  lawyer; 

Chester  Bentine  McLaughlin,  Justice  of  the  Ap- 
pellate Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York, 
able  jurist  and  approved  judge; 

Darwin  Pearl  KingslEy,  Vice-President  of  the  New 
York  Life  Insurance  Company,  who  combines  the  strenu- 
ous activity  of  the  business  man  with  the  tastes  and  ac- 
complishments of  the  scholar; 

Leslie  M.  Shaw,  ex-Governor  of  the  State  of  Iowa, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  eminent 
in  finance,  a  leader  in  statesmanship ; 

Redfield  Proctor,  senior  United  States  Senator  from 
Vermont,  ex-Secretary  of  the  War  Department  of  the 
United  States,  soldier,  statesman ; 

James  M.  Tyler  and  Loveland  Munson,  Assistant 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Vermont,  of  the  type 
which  has  given  its  just  renown  to  our  highest  court, 
chosen  to  their  high  office  for  their  integrity,  learning  and 
practical  wisdom,  and  long  retained  in  it  by  the  approval 
of  the  bar  and  the  people ; 

Robert  Newton  Hall,  class  of  1857,  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada; 

Charles  Edgar  Clark,  Rear  Admiral  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  who  as  captain  of  the  Oregon  on  the  famous 
passage  from  San  Francisco,  and  in  the  battle  of  Santiago 
Bay,  brought  lustre  to  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  vessel, 
his  Nation,,  his  State  and  the  American  Navy; 

Charles  Horace  Spooner,  long-time  teacher,  Presi- 
dent of  Norwich  University ; 


10  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

Arthur  Crawshay  Alliston  Hall,  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  Vermont,  scholar,  preacher,  pastor,  the  rich 
gift  of  Oxford  University  and  the  Anglican  Church  to 
the  Christianity  and  the  culture  of  his  adopted  country  ; 

Wilbur  Olin  Atwater,  Professor  in  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity, eminent  as  chemist,  scientific  investigator  and 
writer  on   scientific  subjects. 

DOCTOR  OF  DIVINITY 

William  Jewett  Tucker,  President  of  Dartmouth 
College,  in  learning,  dignity  and  personal  force  a  lineal 
descendant  and  worthy  compeer  of  those  reverend  men 
who  brought  to  the  University  in  its  earlier  days  the  high 
intellectual  spirit  and  temper  of  Dartmouth   College ; 

George  BurlEy  Spalding,  theologian,  preacher,  who 
illuminates  the  questions  of  the  day  by  the  light  of  phil- 
osophy and  religion ; 

George  Yemans  Bliss,  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Burlington,  who  worthily  maintains  the  traditions  of  an 
honored   pulpit   and   a   devoted   ministry ; 

John  Wright  Buckham,  Professor  of  Theology  in 
Berkeley  Theological  Seminary — a  chair  endowed  by  Fred- 
erick Billings  and  first  occupied  by  Israel  Edson  Dwinell, 
starred  names   in  our  university  galaxy  ; 

Rev.  Gaius  Glenn  Atkins,  golden-mouthed  preach- 
er, literary  critic  and  appreciator,  earnest  and  resourceful 
citizen. 

DOCTOR   OF   LETTERS 

George  Grenville  Benedict,  editor,  historian  of 
Vermont  in  the  Civil  War,  master  of  English,  for  more 
than  a  generation  a  leader  of  the  public  opinion  of  Ver- 
mont in  the  affairs  of  the  commonwealth  and  the  nation ; 


SKETCH     OF     COMMEMORATION  11 

Lucius  Bigelow,  gifted  with  a  fine  literary  sense,  an 
appreciative  and  trenchant  critic  of  literature  and  of  men, 
a  forceful  and  effective  writer  for  the  press. 

DOCTOR  OF  SCIENCE 

William  Arnon  Henry,  Dean  of  the  Agricultural 
Department  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  instructor  and 
investigator  in  the  science  of  agriculture. 

MECHANICAL  ENGINEER 

Elmer  Ellsworth  Allbee,  C.  E.  1889; 

Arthur  Whittier  Ayer,  for  ten  years  Professor  of 
Mechanical  Engineering  in  the  University  of  Vermont. 

MASTER  OF  SCIENCE  IN  CHEMISTRY 

Charles  Flagg  Whitney,  B.  S.  Chem.  1897,  for 
several  years  instructor  in  the  Chemical  Department  of 
the  University  of  Vermont. 

MASTER  OF  ARTS 

Charles  Baker  Wright,  Professor  of  English  in 
Middlebury   College  ; 

Walter  E.  Ranger,  Superintendent  of  Education  for 
the  State  of  Vermont; 

Mrs.  Jessie  Wright  Whitcomb,  A.   B.   1884. 

President  Hopkins  then  pronounced  the  benediction 
and  the  procession  was  reformed  and  moved  to  the  Van 
Ness  House,  where  the  Corporation  dinner  or  collation 
was  served,  and  after  the  clearing  of  the  tables  a  suc- 
cession of  lively  and  impressive  speeches  was  made  by 
distinguished  guests  of  the  University,  and  highly  enjoyed 


12  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

by  the  alumni,  who  crowded  the  dining  hall.  At  the  close 
of  the  postprandial  exercises,  President  Buckham  an- 
nounced, to  the  great  joy  of  the  younger  alumni  especially, 
that  since  the  after-dinner  speaking  began  the  University 
had  come  into  formal  possession  of  the  Ainsworth  farm 
of  sixty  acres  on  Colchester  Avenue,  a  plat  which  in- 
cluded the  long  desired  Athletic  Field. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  same  evening  the  customary  Re- 
ception was  given  by  the  President  and  Mrs.  Buckham  at 
the  Billings  Library.  The  Governor  and  his  wife  also  re- 
ceived, and  the  opportunity  for  congratulations  and  re- 
newal of  old  acquaintance  was  heartily  enjoyed  by  the 
brilliant  company  which  thronged  the  spacious  halls  of 
the  Library.  The  donor  of  the  building,  if  permitted  to  be 
present  in  spirit,  may  be  conceived  of  as  rejoicing  in  the 
tokens  of  gratitude  and  good  will  so  freely  exhibited  about 
the  hospitable  hearth  of  the  U.  V.   M. 

Burungton  Day 

Every  day  was  Burlington  Day,  but  on  Thursday,  the 
seventh  of  July,  the  citizens  of  Burlington  signalized  their 
hospitable  spirit  by  tendering  to  the  Guests  of  the  Uni- 
versity a  farewell  cruise  upon  Lake  Champlain.  About 
five  hundred  people  responded  to  this  generous  invitation. 
The  day  was  perfect.  The  steamer  Chateaugay  went  first  to 
Cumberland  Bay,  then  skirted  the  New  York  shore  till 
nearly  opposite  this  city,  when  it  crossed  to  Shelburne 
Point,  steamed  south  in  close  view  of  Shelburne  Farms, 
of  home  of  Dr.  W.  Seward  Webb,  then  returned  to  make 
the  circuit  of  Shelburne  Bay,  and  came  to  dock  again  at 
half  past  five  after  a  four  hours'  sail. 

On  looking  back  over  the  whole  five  days  and  the 
diverse  events  of  the  celebration,  one  is  moved  to  recognize 
the   success    which    attended     the    public     gatherings,     the 


SKETCH     OF     COMMEMORATION  13 

hearty  sympathy  of  the  audiences,  and  the  general  satis- 
faction evinced  by  guests,  citizens,  and  alumni.  The  fes- 
tival was  a  worthy  ending  of  the  University's  first  hun- 
dred years,  and  an  auspicious  introduction  to  its  second 
century. 


PRAYER  BEFORE  SERMON 


BY    PROFESSOR   J.    E.    GOODRICH 


O  God  our  Father,  we  thank  thee  for  the  faith  and 
patience  of  the  saints  of  old,  for  the  hope  thou  didst 
inspire  in  their  hearts,  for  the  measure  of  success 
which  thou  gavest  to  their  faithful  endeavor.  And 
we  praise  thee  for  the  rich  inheritance  into  which, 
by  thy  grace  seconding  their  zealous  effort,  we  are 
entered. 

We  bless  thee  that  we  look  not  forward  to  a  pos- 
sible salvation  to  be  revealed,  but  backward  to  the 
sure  words  of  him  who  is  the  Truth  and  the  Life, 
and  to  the  mighty  deeds  of  him  who  set  the  seal  to 
every  word  he  spake  by  taking  again  the  life  which 
he  laid  down.  We  rejoice  in  our  faith  that  this 
expenditure  of  grace  and  love  was  for  our  sakes,  and 
pray  that  he  may  see  in  us  of  the  travail  of  his 
soul :  that  we  may  know  the  power  of  his  resurrec- 
tion ;  may  die  with  him  unto  sin,  and  rise  with 
him  in  newness  of  life. 

We  thank  thee  also  for  our  life  in  this  land  of 
liberty  and  privilege;  for  the  open  doors  here  set 
before  our  feet ;  for  the  church  and  the  school ; 
for  those  whom  in  the  early  days  of  this  common- 
wealth thou  didst  move  to  establish  this  University  ; 


16  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

for  the  devoted  men  who  have  taught  and  labored 
here;  for  the  friends  who  from  time  to  time  have 
been  raised  up  to  foster  its  interests  and  direct  its 
policy  ;  for  those  who  year  by  year  have  gone  forth 
from  its  walls  to  do  their  share  of  the  world's  work  ; 
and  for  those  in  especial  who,  when  the  fatherland 
was  in  danger,  counted  not  their  young  lives  dear 
unto  them. 

We  pray  that  in  the  days  to  come  thy  favor  may 
still  attend  this  institution  of  learning.  Give  wis- 
dom to  its  trustees  and  its  officers  of  instruction. 
May  the  successes  of  the  past  be  but  an  earnest  of 
the  blessings  thou  hast  in  store  for  it.  Multiply  its 
friends,  and  increase  its  power  to  lift  society  and 
strengthen  the  state.  Direct  those  who  direct  its 
general  policy  and  its  courses  and  methods  of  in- 
struction .  Give  it  favor  with  the  community  in  which 
its  work  is  done.  Inspire  all  who  carry  its  degrees 
with  a  due  sense  of  their  responsibility  as  servants 
of  the  state  and  helpers  of  their  fellow  men. 

For  these  who  are  now  to  leave  us  for  a  more  active 
and  more  responsible  life,  we  ask  a  thankful  sense 
of  their  high  privilege  in  the  leisure  and  the  friend- 
ships here  enjoyed,  and  in  the  training  and  equip- 
ment here  received  to  fit  them  for  efficient  service  of 
their  generation.  Make  them  glad  in  their  power 
to  work,  and  glad  of  worth}-  work  to  do.  Increase 
their  efficiency  year  by  year  through  long  and  happy 
and  useful  lives.  Make  them  strong  to  achieve  not 
only,  but  strong  to  resist  and  to  overcome.      Guard 


PRAYER    BEFORE    SERMON  17 

them  from  the  tempter  ;  keep  them  from  forbidden 
paths.  Make  them  sharers  in  the  faith  and  hope 
and  steadfastness  of  the  saints  and  heroes  of  early 
days,  that  they  too  may  labor  and  endure  as  seeing- 
the  invisible  ;  that  they  may  seek  higher  than  earthly 
ends ;  may  live  as  under  the  great  Taskmaster's 
eye  and  in  hope  of  such  rewards  as  he  only  can 
bestow.  And  when  their  day's  work  is  done,  give 
them  the  satisfactions  of  a  good  conscience,  and  the 
hope  that  maketh  not  ashamed,  of  a  blessed  immor- 
tality. 

Grant  unto  all  of  us  here  present  full  absolution 
for  our  multiplied  offences,  with  such  added  mercies 
as  thy  wisdom  knows  us  to  need,  for  the  sake  of  thy 
Son,  our  Savior,  Jesus  Christ,  who  taught  us  when 
we  pray,  to  say  : 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven,  etc. 


DIVERSITY 


THE  BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


BY    PRESIDENT    M.    H.    BUCKHAM 


Jesus  *  *  knew  what  was  in  man.  John  ii.  25. 
It  is  related  of  one  of  the  prophets  of  the  last 
century  that  in  a  moment  of  deep  spiritual  agony  he 
broke  out  with  the  exclamation  :  "  It  is  a  sore  trial 
to  the  spirit  to  have  more  light  than  one's  brethren. ' ' 
No  doubt  this  is  a  common  experience  with  men  of 
far  range  of  vision  and  deep  insight.  The  prevailing 
belief  of  mankind  is  that  the  increase  of  knowledge 
entails  increased  sadness  ;  that  while  pessimism  may 
be  chargeable  with  affectation  and  cynicism, optimism 
is  open  to  the  suspicion  of  cowardice  and  self-decep- 
tion. How  else  can  we  account  for  the  fascination 
of  tragedy — how  else  than  through  the  deep  under- 
lying conviction  that  human  life  is  not  a  frolic  but 
a  burden  ;  that  its  true  interpretation  is  not  the  gay- 
ety  that  mocks  it  with  laughter  but  the  sense  of  tears 
which  is  in  the  deepest  heart  of  all  mortal  things. 

Jesus  knew  what  was  in  man,  both  actually  and 
potentially.  He  knew  that  potentiality  of  evil  which , 
as  some  men  have  brooded  on  it,  awed  by  it,  sick- 
ened by  it,  as  good  men  might  well  be,  has  led  them 
to  affirm  that  man  is  by  nature  totally  and  hopelessly 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  19 

depraved.  Jesus  never  said  this,  or  implied  it,  of 
the  nature  which  he  himself  bore,  but  he  knew  the 
evil  which  is  in  man.  He  knew  the  hatred  of  pure 
goodness  which  was  gathering  against  himself.  He 
knew  the  pagan  heart,  its  rage  mingled  with  fear, 
which  would  in  the  coining  centuries  torture  and 
slay  and  strive  to  exterminate  all  who  should  share 
his  spirit.  He  knew  that  with  no  less  fiendish  rage 
Christians  would  torture  and  slay  Christians,  in  the 
Inquisition,  on  St.  Bartholomew's,  at  the  Antwerp 
terror,  in  Sinithfield  Market,  on  Tower  Hill  in  Lon- 
don, on  Gallows  Hill  in  Salem.  He  knew  to  what 
infamy  of  wickedness  humanity  could  attain  in  the 
Roman  emperors,  in  the  Borgias,  the  Guises,  the 
Bourbons,  in  the  orgies  of  the  Palais  Royal,  in  the 
massacres  of  September,  in  the  wholesale  murders 
of  the  guillotine.  He  knew  what  was  in  man,  and 
it  saddened  him  and  bowed  him  down,  and  aged  him 
so  that  when  he  was  thirty  years  old  the  onlooker 
guessed  he  might  be  near  fifty  years.  He  knew 
what  was  in  man — and  his  comment, — ominous  and 
awesome  was:  "Beware  of  men."  And  when  we 
read  the  sequel  was  not  the  warning  justified  ? 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  some  men  are  pessimists, 
that  the  best  of  men  have  their  gloomy  hours  and 
grieve  that  they  have  more  light  than  their  brethren  ? 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  Jesus  was,  as  the  prophet  had 
described  him,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief  ?  Is  not  the  wonder  rather  that  in  some  crisis 
of  justifiable  despondency  he  did  not  go  back  to  the 


20  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

Father  who  had  sent  him ,  and  say  :  '  The  task  thon 
hast  given  me  is  hopeless.  Men  are  beyond  recovery 
wicked  and  vile.  I  can  no  more.  I  give  them  up. 
Of  such  as  these  even  divine  love  can  make  nothing. ' ' 
But  this  language,  pardonable  as  it  may  seem  in 
some  moods,  comes  too  dangerously  near  treason  to 
the  majesty  of  divine  love  to  be  pursued  further. 
For  of  whom  is  it  thus  imagined  that  his  knowledge 
was  fallible,  his  love  exhausted,  his  purpose  frus- 
trated ?  Is  it  of  some  baffled  reformer  who  had  over- 
estimated his  resources,  some  visionary  whose  dreams 
always  baseless  have  faded  into  a  memory  and  a 
regret  ?  Nay,  it  was  he  who  knew  what  is  in  man — 
who  because  he  was  himself  man,  and  because  he 
had  the  consciousness,  not  of  a  man  but  of  man 
down  to  the  deepest  depths  and  up  to  the  highest 
heights  of  him,  because  he  interpreted  that  con- 
sciousness with  the  insight  and  vision  which  a  divine 
love  gave  to  him  above  all  the  sons  of  men,  so  valued 
man  as  to  affirm  that  one  human  soul  was  of  more 
worth  than  the  whole  soulless  world,  who  found  a 
joy  in  enduring  death  and  shame  for  those  whom  he 
knew  so  well,  and  because  he  knew  them  so  well. 
He  knew  the  actual  good  which  is  in  man.  He 
knew  the  humble  pious  home  of  Nazareth,  where 
virtues  and  charities  which  Eden  never  knew  bloom- 
ed in  sweetness  and  grace.  He  knew  what  maternal 
love  could  be  in  Mary,  and  friendship  in  the  Bethany 
household,  and  self-effacement  in  John  the  Baptist, 
and  devotion   in  those  who  left  all  to  follow  him. 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  21 

He  knew  from  the  history  of  his  own  people  what 
heroism  inspired  by  faith  could  do  and  dare.  But 
better  than  this  he  knew  the  potentiality  of  good 
that  is  in  man,  that  even  in  the  nature  in  which 
evil  abounded  the  possibility  and  promise  of  good 
much  more  abounded.  He  knew  that  in  that  po- 
tentiality of  good  lay  the  heroic  faith  that  was  to 
endure  all  those  bloody  persecutions,  and  that  in  the 
end  even  the  pagan  heart  would  own  that  the  Gali- 
lean had  conquered.  He  knew  that  human  history, 
though  in  the  future  as  in  the  past  befouled  by 
cruelty  and  hate  and  wrong  in  its  thousand  forms, 
would  be  so  illuminated  and  glorified  with  heroism 
and  sacrifice  and  devotion  and  love  in  its  ten  thousand 
forms  that  even  the  Son  of  God  would  exult  to  call 
men  his  brethren. 

But  unless  we  overestimate  our  own  times,  as 
men  of  stirring  times  are  apt  to  do,  the  last  century 
has  seen  a  greater  change  in  man's  knowledge  of 
himself  than  all  preceding  centuries  ;  has  seen  man 
attaining  a  more  sober,  a  saner  and  truer  under- 
standing of  his  place  in  the  Universe  than  any  pre- 
ceding age  has  enjoyed.  And  this  saner  knowledge 
and  truer  judgment  the  age  has  attained  by  entering 
more  deeply  than  any  other  time  into  what  we  may 
call  the  human  consciousness  of  Jesus ;  that  is  to 
say,  into  what  he,  as  a  man,  thought  and  felt  and 
willed  in  this  human  life  of  his  and  of  ours.  In 
former  times  men  looked  on  this  life  of  his  as  some- 
thing to  be  studied  with  humility  and  adoration  and 


22  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

gratitude  ;  something  objective  and  foreign  and  far 
off.  Our  great  discovery  and  inspiration  it  is  to 
know  that  high  and  great  and  pure  and  fine  as  that 
life  was,  it  was  after  all  a  human  life,  not  an  extra- 
human  life  ;  that  it  was  a  fact,  not  a  sweet  Galilean 
vision  as  it  has  been  called,  but  a  reality  on  which 
the  Syrian  stars  looked  down,  and  which  is  a  reality 
under  all  stars  and  in  every  clime. 

I.  And  so  under  the  inspiration  and  guidance 
of  this  ideal,  man  is  slowh — but  in  our  time  more 
rapidly — becoming  conscious  through  sharing  the 
consciousness  of  Jesus,  that  he  belongs  to  an  order  of 
being  which  has  in  it  the  potency  of  infinite  advance- 
ment. The  great  idea  which  characterizes  the  think- 
ing of  the  last  century,  which  with  many  meanings  we 
call  evolution,  is  not  wholly  new  to  our  age  nor  to  sci- 
ence. Glimpses  of  its  truth  came  to  sages  and  far- 
sighted  men  in  all  ages.  The  Bibles  of  the  nations 
have  here  and  there  hints  of  it.  Isaiah  and  Paul  glow 
with  the  inspiration  of  it.  Prophets  and  kings  de- 
sired what  it  betokened  to  them .  The  words  of  Jesus 
are  full  of  the  glory  of  it.  But  mankind  at  large 
has  come  slowly  to  the  comprehension  of  it.  For  a 
certain  type  of  mind  the  ideal  is  seen  only  with  a 
backward  look — when  Astraea  reigned,  when  Plancus 
was  consul — when  life  was  simple  and  faith  was 
submissive.  But  how  foreign  is  all  this  to  our  time- 
spirit,  whicli  is  not  regretful  of  the  past  but  impa- 
tient for  the  future  !  Who  now  regrets  that  he  did 
not  live  in  some  good  age  of  the  past  ?     Who  does 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  23 

not  wish  to  share  the  assured  glories  of  the  future  ? 
If  it  seems  a  frigid  way  of  putting  it  to  say  that  Jesus 
was  a  believer  in  the  evolution  of  man,  let  us  say 
with  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews  that  he  endured  the 
cross  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  the  joy  of 
beholding  man  in  his  redeemed  and  glorified  future 
which  he  foresaw. 

And  what  might  he  have  foreseen  justifying  his 
faith  in  man's  limitless  capacity  of  advancement  ? 
A  being  whose  intellect  would  expand  with  the  tasks 
which  the  centuries  would  bring  ;  who  would  divine 
great  truths  far  in  advance  of  him  and  then  verify 
or  correct  his  divinations  ;  who  would  achieve  great 
things  in  art,  industry,  invention,  gradually  subdu- 
ing and  controlling  that  part  of  the  universe  which 
was  within  his  reach  ;  that  as  he  grew  strong  he 
wTould  also  grow  subtle  and  delicate  and  tender,  so 
that  the  more  he  knew  and  the  more  he  achieved 
the  vaster  would  be  his  conception  of  the  unknown 
and  the  possible,  and  so  the  more  humble  he  would 
grow,  and  the  more  reverent  and  worshipful.  He 
might  have  foreseen  the  time  when  religious  faith — 
faith  in  himself — would  be  so  constant  that  fire 
could  not  burn  it  out,  nor  torture  rack  it  out ;  so 
loyal  that  men  would  die  in  behalf  of  doctrines  im- 
posed upon  faith  which  were  hateful  to  instinct  and 
reason  and  natural  affection  ;  so  utterly  devoted  that 
when,  as  in  our  own  decade,  a  hundred  men  were 
offered  their  lives  if  they  would  deny  him ,  ninety-nine 
stood  to  be  shot  down  for  their  fealty  to  him.     When 


24  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

a  race,  or  a  community,  not  in  isolated  cases  but 
whenever  or  wherever  put  to  the  test,  has  capacities 
like  this,  what  capabilities  of  moral  grandeur  does 
it  lack  ? 

II.  Again  :  the  new  age  is  coming  to  a  clearer 
conception  of  what  is  essential  and  ideal  manhood. 
For  the  ancient  world  man  was  a  political  animal, 
and  the  pagan  civilizations  flourished  upon  the  idea 
that  man  attains  his  highest  excellence  in  perfecting 
political  institutions,  in  founding  and  maintaining 
commonwealths  and  empires.  The  ideal  man  was  a 
Pericles  or  a  Cicero.  But  this  idea  subordinates  and 
sacrifices  the  individual  to  the  state.  It  troubles  us, 
perhaps,  that  Jesus  made  so  little  of  the  political 
man.  This  at  least  is  plain — that  in  his  thought 
while  the  political  is  inclusive  it  is  not  the  dominat- 
ing and  final  idea  of  man.  The  Middle  Ages,  touched 
and  inspired  by  the  genius  of  Christianity,  conceived 
of  man  as  essentially  a  religious  being — a  being  tem- 
porarily human  but  destined  to  be  superhuman,  a 
stranger  and  a  pilgrim  on  the  earth  ;  and  so  emerged 
the  pietistic  man — the  man  of  the  desert  and  the 
cloister — a  heroic  type  of  permanent  fascination  in 
its  great  leaders,  but  in  the  mass  a  life  unnaturally 
repressed  and  so  by  turns  meagre  and  morbid,  capa- 
ble rather  of  fanaticism  than  of  enthusiasm,  looking 
for  visions  rather  than  working  out  convictions,  in 
the  conceit  of  unworldliness  shifting  off  human 
burdens  and  responsibilities.  This  type  has  had 
many  forms  in  history,  but  its  chief  characteristic  is 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  25 

an  ascetic  view  of  life,  a  life  supposed  to  be  more 
spiritual  by  being  less  human.  In  place  of  this 
obsolescent  view  of  religion  and  of  life,  religion  itself 
is  becoming  humanized,  and  the  ideal  human  life 
now  as  well  as  hereafter  is  becoming  spiritualized, 
filled  not  with  visions  and  ecstacies,  but  with  truth 
and  beauty  and  right  and  love  and  sacrifice  ;  the 
life  of  George  Peabody  and  Florence  Nightingale 
and  Father  Damien,  of  Havelock  and  Gordon,  of 
Moffat  and  Livingston,  of  the  unnamed  men  and 
women  who  adorn  the  doctrine  of  their  Savior  in 
humble  lives  by  patient  uncomplaining  love  in  daily 
ministries  and  courtesies  ;  the  life  which  may  be 
just  as  saintly  in  Piccadilly  and  Fifth  Avenue  as  in 
the  Syrian  desert,  just  as  christian  in  the  home  and 
on  the  farm  and  in  the  court-room  and  the  shop  as 
in  the  cloister  or  the  oratory. 

There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  aspire  to  be 
angels  or  superhuman  beings  of  any  kind.  To  be 
a  man  is  enough .  To  be  a  man  as  we  now  conceive 
him  ;  to  be  as  an  animal,  the  noblest  of  animals  ;  to 
have  dominion  over  this  fair  creation  which  is  ours 
with  all  its  possibilities  of  riches ;  to  have  intelligence 
illimitable ;  to  be  capable  of  science,  and  poetry, 
and  art ;  to  have  freedom  ;  to  have  the  capacity  of 
love,  and  through  love  of  service  and  sacrifice  ;  to  be 
religious  and  to  look  up  lovingly  and  truthfully  to 
Him  who  is  highest  and  best ;  and  to  be  spiritual  in 
the  same  sense  as  God  himself  is  spiritual — this  is 
to  be  what  Jesus  knew  to  be  in  man,  and  for  the  sake 


26  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

of  which  he  believed  in  him  and  loved  him  and  gave 
himself  for  him. 

III.  And  finally  man  is  becoming  persuaded  that 
all  his  highest  ideals  are  not  only  realizable  but  are 
certain  to  be  realities.  This  is  only  saying  that 
men  are  coming  to  have  faith  in  the  divine  order. 
This  is  already  a  settled  belief  in  onr  material  life. 
As  soon  as  we  have  a  clear  idea  of  anything  vehe- 
mently desirable,  we  know  it  will  come — a  new  fuel, 
or  swifter  transportation  or  air-sailing,  or  an  element 
more  wonderful  than  radinm.  As  the  vivacious 
Frenchman  said  to  the  qneen  :  "If  the  thing  is 
possible  it  is  already  done  ;  if  it  is  impossible  it  shall 
be  done."  Is  a  new  type  of  industrial  man  needed, 
one  who  can  wield  the  immense  possibilities  of  mas- 
terhood  powerfully  and  beneficently?  He  is  sure 
to  come, — if  he  has  not  already  come.  Has  the 
world  longed  for  a  new  style  of  diplomacy,  one  which 
recognizes  the  truth  that  a  nation  as  such  has  a  soul 
to  be  saved  as  well  as  a  body  to  be  mangled  by  bullets 
and  dynamite?  Lo  !  the  idea  has  already  been  half 
realized  and  our  own  nation  has  contributed  not  a 
little  to  the  realization.  Is  there  anything  which 
we  are  with  clear  conviction  praying  and  working 
for  in  public  affairs — municipal  righteousness,  con- 
scientious suffrage,  honest  work  by  the  wage-earner, 
the  sympathy  of  a  fellow  man  in  the  employer,  the 
Christian  Church  one  and  indivisible,  the  communion 
of  saints — that  is,  not  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect  but  of  Christ-like  though  as  yet  imperfect 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON  27 

men  and  women,  holding,  while  imperfect,  but  hold- 
ing in  love  and  charity,  their  imperfect  creeds  gradu- 
ally blending  into  unity  as  each  contributes  its  ray 
to  the  spectral  whole,  but  even  now  singing  the  same 
hymns,  praying  the  same  prayers,  living  the  same 
lives  of  faith,  hope  and  charity, — who  doubts  that 
all  this  will  come — not  without  many  backward 
steps — not  without  failures  and  lapses  which  will 
bring  malign  comfort  to  the  Mauleverers,  who  in 
lecture  rooms  and  editorial  sanctums  preach  the 
philosophy  and  religion  of  despair;  not  without 
reasons  abundant  for  prophetic  denunciation  of  the 
evil  which  will  be  rampant  and  apparently  triumph- 
ant in  high  places  and  low;  at  great  cost  and  great 
loss,  as  is  the  fate  of  all  great  campaigns,  but  with 
the  issue  never  doubtful,  and  with  a  final  victory 
worth  all  the  cost  and  loss;  one  which  shall  satisfy 
him  who  captained  our  salvation  from  the  beginning 
and  all  through  the  long  conflict,  and  will  bring  us 
out  more  than  conquerors,  human  still  and  always, 
but  crowned  with  the  humanity  which  he  wears  who 
is  the  first  born  among  many  brethren. 

ADDRESS    TO   THE   CANDIDATES    FOR   GRADUATION 

It  has  been  a  matter  of  public  comment  that  many 
of  the  baccalaureate  discourses  of  this  commencement 
season  have  had  a  despondent  tone  respecting  the 
future  of  our  country  and  of  the  world.  What  I 
have  said  to-day  has  not  been  intended  as  a  reply  or 
a  counter-statement,  for  my  theme  had  been  chosen 


28  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

and  mainly  worked  out  in  advance  of  these  utter- 
ances, and  certainly  I  should  not  set  up  to  be  more 
cheerful  than  my  brethren  because  I  have  more  light 
than  they.  Perhaps  the  difference  of  view  may  be 
that,  unlike  them,  we  are  to-day  centennializing, 
that  is,  by  the  suggestion  of  the  occasion,  we  are 
taking  long  viewrs  behind  and  before.  A  wise  man 
once  prescribed  as  an  antidote  to  depression  to  take 
short  views.  It  may  at  times  be  a  still  better  course 
to  take  long  views,  to  get  the  parallax  and  the  per- 
spective which  a  far  glance  backward  and  a  long 
vista  forward  give  to  the  operator.  There  is  enough 
in  the  world  to  alarm  and  depress,  but  it  is  permitted 
to  us  on  occasions  like  this  to  look  away  over  and 
beyond  this  to  the  good  which  because  it  is  less  con- 
spicuous may  be  more  solid  and  abiding.  I  suppose 
none  of  us  is  ready  to  say  with  Simeon,  ' '  Lord,  now 
lettest  thou  thy  sen-ant  depart  in  peace  for  mine 
eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation;"  but  there  are  many 
who  are  saying,  "Lord,  let  thy  servant  survive  to 
see  some  of  the  glories  which  are  to  come  in  the 
future."  At  any  rate,  young  friends,  the  question 
for  you  is  not  how  much  better  will  the  world  be  in 
the  next  generation  but  what  your  part  is  to  be  in 
making  it  better. 

The  sum  of  what  the  University  has  to  say  to  you — 
to  you  of  all  the  departments  alike,  and  whatever 
your  calling  or  work  may  be — is  to  bid  you,  on  the 
basis  of  a  generous  and  sympathetic  estimate  of  what 
is  in  man,  to  do  what  you  can  to  spiritualize  human 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  29 

life,  at  least  some  small  section  of  it.    It  is  this  which 
has  made  life  so  much  better  than  it  was  ages  ago. 
The  coarse  animal  life  with  which  human  history 
began  has  been  gradually  transformed  by  having 
infused   into    it    spiritual    qualities,    more    reason, 
more  conscience,  more  love.     We  are  finding  that 
man  has  infinite  capacity  for  these  things  and  that 
they  and  they  only  are  the  final  things  worth  living 
for.     And  so  the  objects  men  are  actually  living  for 
are  undergoing  a  slow  change.      When  it  is  said 
that  most  men  live  for  money  it  is  meant  that  they 
live  for  what  money  will  buy,  and  they  are  finding 
out  that  the  best  things  money  will  buy  are  the  next 
best  to  those  priceless  things  money  will  not  buy; 
and  those  are  intelligence  and  beauty  and  affection — 
sweet  childhood,  noble  manhood,  gracious  woman- 
hood.    Who  does  not  know  and  in  his  heart  believe 
that  a  ton  of  gold  is  well  spent  if  it  can  buy  an  ounce 
of  spiritual  good,  of  hope,  gratitude,  courage,  peace, 
or  even  the  simple  sense  of  heart  approval.      There 
are  men  to-day — and  there  will  be  more  of  them — 
who  are  converting  wheat  and  corn  and  coal  and 
iron  and  oil  and  cotton  and  stocks  and  bonds  into 
health  and  homes,  into  libraries  and  art  and  music, 
and  so  are  helping  us  by  an  object  lesson  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  that  difficult  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture which  urges  us  to  make  out  of  the  Mammon  of 
unrighteousness  friends    who   will  receive  us  into 
everlasting  habitations, — which  may  mean  that  we 
are  to  take  the  raw  and  crass  materials  of  human 


30  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

life  and  spiritualize  them  into  finer  qualities,  into 
wisdom  and  virtue  and  piety. 

Has  one  of  you  literary  talent,  the  power  to  touch 
and  move  men  ?  You  can  put  this  power  to  the 
service  of  base  fiction,  or  of  yellow  journalism,  and 
so  do  something  to  sensualize  human  life,  or  you 
can  devote  it  to  the  advancement  of  public  virtue, 
clean  politics,  domestic  love,  the  strenuous  and  the 
gentle  life.  What  will  constitute  success  in  the 
medical  calling?  To  have  helped  some  community 
to  a  saner  life,  to  good  air,  good  water,  good  food  ; 
and  so  on  to  good  lungs,  good  health,  good  muscles  ; 
and  so  to  good  work,  kindly  thoughts,  good  tempers, 
and  a  holy  life.  How  can  a  business  man  give  to 
himself  at  last  a  good  account  of  his  life  ?  By  using 
his  business  as  a  co-operative  agency  for  increasing 
the  industry,  thrift,  comfort,  social  and  spiritual  well- 
being  of  the  community-  on  whose  patronage  his  busi- 
ness depends.  Sum  up  all  the  aims  and  activities  : 
all  the  professions  and  callings,  and  their  lasting 
benefits  all  come  to  this  :  ' '  Lord,  thou  gavest  me  ten 
pounds.  I  have  gained  beside  them  ten  pounds 
mo:  Thou  gavest  me  ten  pounds  of  physical 

energy-,  and  mental  power,  and  education  and  op- 
portunity, and  I  have  gained  with  them  ten  pounds 
more,  of  health  and  gladness,  of  social  virtue,  and 
civil  righteousness,  and  moral  uplift,  and  Christian 
piety. 

And  just  this  is  what  this  University-  has  been 
doing  in  these  hundred  years  past,  and  through  you 


BACCALAUREATE   SERMON  31 

and  your  successors  hopes  to  do  in  the  century  and 
many  centuries  to  come,  to  spiritualize  human  life 
in  all  its  departments.  The  University  makes  no 
protest  against  material  prosperity.  She  has  done 
her  humble  part  to  bring  it  to  pass,  rejoices  in  it, 
claims  a  beneficiary  share  of  it,  knows  how  to  use 
it  and  to  teach  others  how  to  use  it.  If  she  is  poor 
she  has  made  many  rich .  Go  forth  with  her  blessing 
and  prayers  to  get,  with  other  things,  gold,  to  trans- 
mute it  by  the  alchemy  you  have  learned  in  the 
laboratory  of  the  spirit,  to  wrest  from  nature  her 
secrets  and  humanize  them,  to  get  power  over  men 
and  to  exploit  it  into  sympathy,  helpfulness  and 
guidance,  to  lighten  human  burdens,  to  multiply 
human  joys,  to  make  human  life  more  religious  and 
religious  life  more  human,  by  making  both  one  as 
he  conceived  and  exemplified  it  who  came  from  God 
that  we  may  have  life  and  have  it  abundantly. 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY 


ADDRESS    BEFORE    THE    UNIVERSITY    V.   M.   C.   A.   BY 
THE   REV.  GEORGE   B.  SPALDING,   D.   D.,    LL.   D. 


The  occasion  appoints  my  theme  and  signals  the 
line  of  its  discussion. 

The  century  of  the  life  of  our  University  is  very 
nearly  coetaneous  with  the  nineteenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era.  It  belongs  to  others  to  recount  in 
prose  and  poetry  the  trials  and  triumphs  of  our  Alma 
Mater  through  the  hundred  years,  and  to  fire  the 
hearts  of  her  sons  and  daughters  with  her  achieve- 
ments and  her  hopes. 

Let  it  be  my  task  in  way  of  preface  to  speak  more 
widely  of  the  past  and  coming  century  of  the  world 
about  us,  as  full  of  lessons  and  inspirations  to 
scholars  and  Christians  confronting  the  future. 

My  subject  is  :  '  'The  Challenge  of  the  Twentieth 
Century." 

Mere  time  figures  as  zero  in  the  arithmetic  of 
God.  Events  are  the  only  ciphers  on  the  dial  of 
history.  We  count  the  centuries  by  what  has 
happened  in  them.  The  silent  years  or  eons  are 
those  of  preparation  wherein  God  broods  and  noise- 
lessly works  "for  the  fullness  of  the  times." 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  33 

Who  sums  the  eventless  centuries  from  Adam  on, 
until  Abraham  broke  through  the  gates  of  the  Hast 
to  become  the  father  of  the  one  faith  for  all  the 
future  ?  Why  tarried  the  chariot  wheels  for  twenty 
centuries  more  before  the  Son  of  God  rode  into 
human  history,  the  Desire  and  the  Deliverer  of  the 
nations  ?  Why  so  vast  a  period  after  such  a  stupen- 
dous event  before  this  half  of  the  round  globe  was 
discovered ;  and  when  well  known  to  the  nations  of 
Europe,  why  so  long  before  they  even  began  to 
measure  its  greatness  and  enter  into  its  possession  ? 

Again  we  say :  God's  dial  bears  no  figures. 
There  are  no  hours  nor  even  centuries  in  his 
chronology.  "One  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a 
thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day." 

The  events  of  time  evolved  through  centuries  or 
a  second  give  to  time  its  only  significance. 

It  is  thus  that  we  gauge  the  century  that  has  just 
passed.  Thus  measured  the  nineteenth  century  is  the 
greatest  of  all.  It  is  studded  with  illustrious  events 
and  names.  Its  glories  are  beyond  our  speech  or 
thought. 

In  things  which  give  security,  convenience,  and 
mastery  over  nature  ;  in  things  that  have  broken 
tyranny  in  the  State,  and  have  lifted  man  into  a 
consciousness  of  his  personal  worth;  in  things  which 
pertain  to  the  spiritual  realm  in  man  and  around 
him,  in  the  expansion  of  religious  liberty,  and  in 
the  sweep  of  its  conquests,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
3 


34  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

nineteenth  century  made  a  greater  advance  toward 
the  goal  of  human  struggle  and  triumph  than  all 
the  centuries  before  it.  I  cannot  dwell  upon  these 
things,  nor  need  I,  for  they  are  the  familiar  themes 
of  poetry  and  oration  at  July  celebrations  and  church 
conventions.  I  will  only  recall  to  you  a  saying  of 
Samuel  Johnson  in  the  last  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  response  to  Boswell's  announcement  that 
one  of  the  coach  lines  out  of  London  was  to  be  run 
at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour  !  "Impossible  !  ' 
exclaimed  the  greatest  philosopher  of  his  age. 
"Why,  Air.  Boswell,  such  speed  as  that  would  take 
away  the  breath  of  every  passenger  ! ' '  The  answer 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  "Twentieth  Century 
Empire  Express"  that  brought  me  here  through 
the  Mohawk  valley  ran  a  hundred  miles  at  the  rate 
of  sixty-six  miles  an  hour, — and  my  breath  remains. 
And  a  single  other  fact  no  less  astonishing  in  the 
religious  sphere  I  cite,  as  given  by  a  great  authority 
in  church  affairs  :  "The  growth  of  Christianity  in 
the  nineteenth  century  was  as  great  as  in  all  the 
preceding  centuries  !  At  the  close  of  the  first  cen- 
tury there  were  five  hundred  thousand  believers  ;  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  two  hundred  millions ; 
at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  were  four 
hundred  millions." 

I  doubt  not  that  more  gifts  were  given  to  Christ 
in  that  one  century  than  in  all  the  others  since  the 
Kings  spread  their  magnificent  offerings  at  the 
manger  of  the  Holy  Child. 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  35 

More  songs  were  sung,  more  land  subjugated, 
more  people  redeemed  than  in  any  five  hundred 
years  since  the  tongues  of  fire  encircled  the  first 
missionaries  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

All  the  great  religious  organizations,  missionary 
and  Bible,  tract  and  endeavor  societies,  young  men's 
associations,  Christian  magazines  and  journals ; 
all  the  great  moral  and  civic  reforms  and  peace 
movements  sprang  into  the  full  swing  of  their 
activity  since  the  bells  of  time  struck  the  year 
eighteen  hundred. 

It  was  in  this  century  that  by  a  peaceful  act  the 
area  of  our  country  was  doubled.  Into  this  vast 
region,  with  its  measureless  tracts  of  agricultural 
and  mining  land  richer  than  any  other  that  the  sun 
shines  upon,  the  best  blood  of  New  England,  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  has  steadily  poured  itself, 
mingling  in  the  veins  of  the  strongest  people  of 
Europe,  forming  out  of  these  racy  elements,  as 
President  Wilson  has  finely  said,  "a  new  and  free 
combination,  with  a  flavor  and  spirit  distinctively 
its  own. ' '  I  stood  one  brilliant  morning  last  month 
at  the  base  of  "Festival  Hall,"  the  crowning  glory 
of  the  magnificent  structures  which  stretch  near 
and  far  away  in  the  vast  space  of  the  World's  Expo- 
sition at  St.  Louis.  The  vista  from  this  central  point 
is  of  surpassing  grandeur,  where  the  arts  of  man 
and  the  beauties  of  nature  unite  in  seeming  perfec- 
tion. But  nothing  so  overwhelmed  my  soul  as 
when  turning  to  face  the  matchless  Festival  Hall  I 


36  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

saw  the  towering  colonnades  stretching  in  stately 
arcs  on  either  side.  High  np  on  the  architraves 
which  span  the  mighty  columns,  in  letters  of  gold 
were  the  names  of  States  and  Territories  which 
have  been  carved  out  of  the  "Louisiana  Purchase." 
Before  the  marshalled  row  of  those  names  I  lost  my- 
self. All  patriotic  pride,  all  religious  faith  surged 
through  my  soul.  Oblivious  to  the  great  crowd  I 
shouted  one  by  one  the  glorious  names:  Missouri, 
Iowa,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  Col- 
orado, Nebraska,  North  Dakota,  Montana,  South 
Dakota,  Oklahoma,  Indian  Territory.  Each  is  an 
empire  itself,  where  great  cities  are  springing,  new- 
communities  forming,  the  bread  of  the  world  grow- 
ing, a  new  civilization  shaping  ;  where,  again  in  the 
words  of  the  Princeton  president,  "men  are  being 
bred  in  a  new  air  and  the  sap  of  a  new  nation  is 
rising. ' ' 

And  if  from  this  richest  of  all  the  spoils  of  peace 
which  we  gathered  from  this  wonderful  nineteenth 
century,  I  turn  to  count  up  the  splendid  spoils  of 
the  two  great  wars  of  the  same  period,  the  wonder 
grows  ;  that  vast  internecine  strife,  shaking  the 
earth  as  the  twin  giants,  the  North  and  South,  reeled 
and  agonized,  interlocked  for  four  years  in  the  un- 
relaxable  grip  of  death,  and  issuing  from  the  awful 
conflict  a  united  people,  a  nation  of  Milton's  dream, 
11  noble  and  puissant,"  "shaking  her  invincible 
locks,"  "an  eagle  mewing  her  mighty  youth  and 
kindling  her  undazzled  eyes    at    the    full    midday 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  37 

beam;" — and  that  other  quick,  sharp  war  with 
Spain,  not  waged  for  self -security  nor  vindication, 
but  to  snatch  a  dying  people  from  her  cruel  clutch; 
and  when  the  most  brilliant  victory  in  the  annals 
of  war  was  gained,  in  the  same  magnificent  spirit  of 
Christian  chivalry,  establishing  one  people  torn  from 
Spain's  tyranny  into  an  independent  sovereignty, 
and  accepting  the  task  of  educating  another  of  her 
peoples,  debauched  by  her  superstition,  into  an  intel- 
ligence which  will  fit  them  for  self-government. 

But  a  new  century  is  already  before  us.  Already 
we  have  begun  another  stadium  of  the  mighty 
course.  And  yet  the  spell  of  this  splendid  past 
holds  our  flying  feet.  With  something  of  dismay 
we  ask,  To  what  new  efforts,  to  what  greater  or  even 
equal  achievements  can  the  twentieth  century  chal- 
lenge her  sons  and  daughters  ? 

As  we  gaze  into  this  unknown  future  we  cannot 
escape  the  weight  of  a  great  despondency,  as  if  in 
the  very  exuberance  of  the  displays  of  this  past  are 
to  be  found  sure  proofs  that  not  much  more  remains 
for  accomplishment. 

Not  long  since  a  philosopher,  so  called,  of  one  of 
the  Western  States  affirmed  that  land  everywhere 
is  slowly  being  exhausted,  and  that  the  year  is  not 
very  far  away  when  wheat  will  refuse  to  grow  on  the 
big  prairies.  Others  are  telling  us  that  the  world's 
coal  bed,  and  its  gold,  silver  and  diamond  fields  are 
wearing  out.  But  believe  me,  this  is  no  old  played 
out  world.     Man  has  hardly  scratched  the  surface 


38  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

of  it.  Not  a  hundredth  part  of  the  vast  mountain 
rampart  which  runs  down  the  coast  line  of  South 
America  has  yet  been  touched.  The  whole  popu- 
lation of  Europe  could  stream  to-morrow  into  the 
valleys  of  the  Amazon  and  hardly  make  an  impres- 
sion upon  the  vast  solitudes  that  surround  "  that 
mighty  river's  thousand  affluents."  Siberia  stood 
in  our  childhood's  geography  as  a  sterile,  frozen 
region  ;  but  in  truth  it  holds  an  immense  territory 
where  grapes  ripen  in  the  open  air  ;  unpeopled 
regions  with  richest  grass  lands,  and  studded  with 
finest  timber.  It  is  said  that  three  generations  of 
the  overspill  of  Europe  could  be  emptied  into  Siberia 
to-day  and,  if  they  would,  live  prosperously.  Africa 
is  a  new  world  with  inland  seas,  shining  rivers  and 
almost  endless  forests,  and  lands  rich  in  soil  and 
gold  and  all  precious  stones. 

Here  at  home  science  is  reclaiming  by  irrigation 
immense  deserts,  and  developing  altogether  new 
resources  in  exhausted  lands,  thus  vastly  increasing 
the  capacity  of  our  country  as  the  granary  of  the 
world.  The  round  globe  to-day  offers  more  and 
promises  more  for  the  physical  welfare  of  mankind 
than  ever  before  since  Adam  pushed  out  from  its 
garden  to  conquer  its  wild  savagery  of  growth  for 
his  existence. 

Science  in  its  discoveries  of  the  forces  in  the 
ground  beneath,  and  the  air  above,  in  light  and 
lightning,  in  the  ethereal  powers  in  stars  and  sun, 
and  the  forces  and  materials  of  the  sea,  and  its  ways 


DR    SPALDING'S  ADDRESS  39 

of  utilizing-  these  for  multiplying-  almost  infinitely 
man's  native  power — science  has  only  crossed  the 
border  line  of  its  illimitable  domain.  Some  things 
are  even  now  on  their  way  which  will  fill  the  watch- 
ing angels  with  wonder.  The  permissive  decree  of 
almighty  God  to  man  in  the  day  of  his  creating 
him  in  his  own  likeness,  of  universal  dominion  is 
an  assurance  of  possibilities,  nay  of  certainties  of 
conquests  by  the  genius  of  man  over  nature  which 
by  their  very  splendor  will  cast  into  shadow  all  that 
has  illumined  the  past. 

We  think  of  the  enormous  profits  that  have  fol- 
lowed great  and  audacious  ventures  and  combina- 
tions, but  I  doubt  not  that  even  under  the  old 
established  laws  of  honesty,  trained  foresight  and 
ever  pushing  pluck,  joined  all  to  a  new  born  sym- 
pathy of  Christian  brotherhood,  the  world  of  busi- 
ness will  yield  far  richer  returns  and  a  wider  distri- 
bution than  any  past  has  gathered. 

Men  of  literary  taste  and  ambition  reviewing  the 
splendid  writings  of  former  times  are  feeling  that 
all  like  success  is  naturally  impossible,  as  if  every 
glorious  song  that  has  been  sung,  every  thrilling 
story  that  has  been  told,  that  every  moving  speech 
uttered  has  lessened  the  chance  of  creating  anything 
of  equal  worth.  But  no,  the  soul  of  man,  of  each 
man,  is  infinite  in  its  powers.  The  organ  that 
responds  to-night  to  the  touch  of  the  player,  repeat- 
ing the  music  of  long  dead  masters,  has  strains 
within  that  never  yet  have  been  evoked,  and  which 


40  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

slumber  still  in  far  richer  measure  in  the  souls  of 
men  and  women  awaiting  some  fresh  inspiration  of 
Almighty  God. 

Songs  more  princely  than  ever,  will  yet  be  sung. 
; '  The  poetry  of  earth  is  ceasing  never."  Speech 
more  persuasive  than  has  ever  leaped  from  mortal 
lips  is  yet  to  be  spoken  to  thrill  to  unsounded  depths 
human  hearts.  Pictures  more  beautiful  than 
canvas  holds  hang  on  the  walls  of  imagination 
waiting  for  brush  and  colors  to  give  to  them  reality. 

In  marble  quarries  lie  forms  which  some  genius 
perhaps  unborn  will  set  free  for  the  rapture  of 
coming  generations. 

The  challenge  of  this  twentieth  century,  un- 
daunted by  all  these  achievements  of  the  last,  rings 
clear  as  an  angel's  bugle,  calling  man  made  so 
"little  lower  than  God"  to  new  conquest  in  the 
phvsical  world,  and  in  every  science  of  nature,  and 
in  the  arts  which  are  but  interpretations  of  her 
varied  forms. 

Philip  II  of  Spain  decreed  the  penalty  of  death 
for  any  one  who  should  even  propose  cutting  a  canal 
through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  For  more  than 
three  hundred  years  this  portal  of  the  seas  has  been 
fast  locked  as  by  a  key  in  the  dead  hand  of  the 
mighty  monarch  in  his  tomb  in  the  Escorial.  The 
challenge  of  this  new  century  is  breaking  the  spell 
which  has  enchained  the  activities  of  the  entire 
world,  and   within   its   first  decade   the   two  great 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  41 

oceans  will  be  mated  to  bring-  forth  results  which 
will  revolutionize  commerce  and  civilization. 

'And  the  hand  that  ope'd  the  gate  shall  forever  hold  the 
key." 

In  the  realm  of  philosophy  man  has  been  equally- 
active.  The  results,  however,  are  by  no  means  so 
clear.  They  are  un satisfactory  by  their  very  vague- 
ness, and  as  some  will  have  it,  most  destructive. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  nineteenth  century 
has  been  one  of  doubt,  and  questioning,  and  even 
denial  of  many  philosophical  systems  and  spiritual 
dogmas,  which  have  already  seriously  disturbed 
faith,  and  threaten  to  destroy  faith  even  within  the 
century  that  is  now  upon  us.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  in  the  governmental  sphere  there  has  been  a 
greatly  unbalanced  development  of  ideas  and  conduct 
which  relate  to  that  most  precious  principle  of  per- 
sonal freedom. 

In  the  impetus  of  free  thinking,  and  in  the  undue 
emphasis  given  to  the  worth  of  the  individual,  of 
his  rights  and  liberties,  we  have  already  lost  much 
of  deepest  sense  of  obligation  to  the  law  of  God  of 
which  we  are  subjects,  and  to  the  order  of  the  state 
and  society  of  which  we  are  constituent  members. 
Excess  of  one  truth  is  ruin  to  any  other  truth. 
Anarchy  and  freedom  lie  close  together.  Bach 
touches  the  very  border  which  separates  man  from 
tyranny.  The  giant  that  brandishes  his  arms 
over  us  as  a  people  is  lawlessness.  And  he  is  the 
offspring  of  the  very  liberty  which  breeds  in  the  free 


42  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

air  of  our  republic.  The  monster  is  hugging-  the 
pillars  of  the  church  and  state,  and  both  tremble  on 
their  foundations.  The  holy  sanction  of  the  oath  of 
office,  and  of  the  marriage  vow;  the  high  pride  of 
civic  honor  and  allegiance,  seem  at  times  to  be  dead 
or  dying  ; — not  only  among  men  of  corrupt  lives, 
but  among  men  of  respectability  and  public  posi- 
tion, of  financial  trust  and  governmental  authority. 
The  plundering  schemes  of  municipalities,  the  base 
and  debasing  arts  of  politicians,  the  bold  traffic  of 
ballots,  the  usurpations  of  the  functions  which  by 
law  and  constitution  belong  to  other  and  co-ordinate 
departments  of  government,  the  constant  appeal  to 
a  public  sentiment  as  itself  superior  to  law,  and  as 
a  sufficient  justification  for  the  crime  of  a  mob  or 
the  redhanded  vengeance  of  an  individual ;  these 
and  other  vast  evils  which  might  be  named  blanch 
with  fear  the  cheek  of  every  patriot  and  Christian. 
They  sometimes  stagger  our  faith  in  God's  right- 
eousness and  in  man's  freedom. 

These  are  perils  which  the  boastful  nineteenth 
century  itself  created,  and  which  it  has  relegated  to 
the  twentieth  century  to  meet. 

They  are  the  fast  ripening  harvest  of  the  tares 
sown  among  the  wheat  in  that  fertile  soil  by  men 
lawless  in  their  very  liberties.  This  twentieth 
century  already  is  lifting  its  reproachful  face  against 
these  terrific  evils,  and  challenges  every  loyal 
Christian  and  lover  of  his  country  to  battle  for  their 
destruction. 


DR    SPALDING'S  ADDRESS  43 

The  prolific  source  of  very  much  of  this  lawless- 
ness is  found  in  the  violation  of  the  constitution  of 
the  nation,  and  of  each  state.  These  constitutions 
have  for  their  fundamental  principle  the  total  separa- 
tion of  the  legislative,  the  executive  and  the  judicial 
functions  of  government.  The  absolute  necessity 
of  these  divisions  was  felt  to  be  supreme  in  the  mind 
of  the  constitution-makers  and  statesmen  of  the  past. 
They  felt  most  profoundly  that  these  three  functions, 
each  independent  of  the  other,  were  essential  to  free- 
dom. 

To  make  the  laws,  to  adjudge  the  laws,  to  execute 
the  laws,  each  must  have  its'  own  special  officers. 
To  merge  their  duties,  or  to  invade  by  one  hair's 
breadth  the  province  of  another  would  destroy  all 
government. 

How  far  have  we  drifted  from  the  ancient  moor- 
ings !  More  and  more  the  legislative  body  is  coming 
under  the  dictation  of  the  executive,  or  what  is  worse, 
under  the  edict  of  party  managers.  What  wonder  is  it 
that  the  people  should  have  followed  so  quickly  along 
this  line,  themselves  usurping  all  these  powers  of 
government,  claiming  that  public  sentiment,  or 
their  own  class  interest,  or  a  personal  passion  is  to 
be  the  law,  is  to  make  the  law  and  adjudge  the  law 
and  execute  the  law.  So  liberty,  the  liberty  of  the 
people,  breaks  through  the  constitutional  barriers 
and  riots  in  anarchy.  Nothing  can  avert  the  threat- 
ening ruin  but  a  new  reign  of  law,  a  re-establishment 
of  the  sovereignties  of  these  three  powers  of  govern- 


44  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

ment  each  in  its  own  sphere;  and  the  re-establishment 
in  the  conscience  of  the  people  of  the  conviction  that 
these  sovereigns  are  to  be  obeyed  with  a  godly  fear, 
that  these  powers  which  the  people  have  created  are 
not  to  be  usurped  by  the  people,  that  the  only  remedy 
for  an  unwise  or  injurious  law  is  by  the  law  itself. 
Public  sentiment  must  itself  be  law-abiding,  else  all 
is  lost.  To  effect  this  is  the  supreme  task  of 
this  century.  For  this  end,  in  the  words  of  the  im- 
mortal Lincoln,  '  'Let  reverence  of  law  be  taught  in 
all  schools  and  colleges,  be  written  in  primers  and 
spelling-books,  be  published  from  pulpits  and  pro- 
claimed in  legislative  halls,  and  enforced  in  the 
courts  of  justice— in  short,  let  reverence  of  law  become 
the  political  religion  of  the  nation." 

The  century  that  has  just  gone  will  stand  in  his- 
tory as  the  most  audacious  in  its  thinking  of  any 
behind  it  and  perhaps  of  any  after  us.  In  the  world 
of  nature  every  system  and  theory  respecting  its 
origin  and  operations  have  one  by  one  been  assaulted 
and  laid  in  ruin.  So  it  is  affirmed.  The  search,  it 
is  claimed,  has  been  for  the  bare,  solid  truth.  Facts, 
that  is,  physical  facts,  things  which  men  can  see  and 
handle,  have  been  the  only  materials  upon  which  the 
mind  of  a  real  philosopher  with  any  true  profit  can 
exercise  itself.  The  universe  is  an  immense  labora- 
tory in  which  man  busies  his  marvellous  powers  with 
scalpel  and  scales,  spectrum  and  crucible,  and  the 
results  of  this  hard,  "sane"  hunt  are  all  that  the 
human  intellect  can  know  or  needs  to  know.     If 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  45 

there  is  any  realm  beyond  this  world  of  seeable 
things  we  know  nothing  of  it.  There  is  nowhere  any 
raft  or  seamanship  that  may  voyage  thither,  and 
bring  back  a  single  fact. 

But  this  twentieth  century  is  already  challenging 
this  presumptuous  wisdom  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
While  applauding  with  full  voice  its  marvellous 
findings  in  the  world  of  things,  this  new  century  is 
affirming  even  more  positively  than  ever  before  the 
absolute  reality  and  the  immeasurable  magnitude  of 
another  kingdom,  a  spiritual  kingdom  which  over- 
arches all  this  world  of  things,  and  penetrates  every 
atom  of  it,  itself  regnant  and  imperishable.  It  be- 
holds this  man  in  his  laboratory,  so  absorbed  with 
material  elements  and  forces,  and  sees  clearly  within 
him  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  all  untouched,  un- 
utilized, unsatisfied,  even  in  his  task  to  which  he 
sets  himself  of  mastering  things  which  respond  only 
to  his  five  senses.  There  are  a  thousand  powers 
and  possibilities  within  the  soul  of  this  natural  phi- 
losopher which  transcend  all  these  qualities  which 
he  employs  or  can  employ  even  in  his  most  splendid 
conquests  over  nature.  Still  this  worker  in  his 
cabinet  loves  and  hopes  and  thinks  and  reasons  and 
sees  and  feels  and  knows  objects  as  firm  and  sub- 
stantial as  the  earth  he  treads,  as  real  and  significant 
as  the  heavens  whose  stellar  lights  flash  upon  his 
eyes.     Bver  within  him  is 

a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 


46  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man  ; 
A  motion  and  a  spirit,  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 
And  rolls  through  all  things." 

It  was  an  immense  concession  that  Herbert 
Spencer  made  to  the  spiritual  philosophy  in  his 
last  book,  in  which  he  declared  that  "sensations 
and  emotions  are  the  major  components  of  the  human 
consciousness,  and  constitute  the  essential  part  of 
the  mind."  "Emotions,"  he  says,  "are  the  mas- 
ters; the  intellect  is  the  servant."  What  a  very 
broad  foundation  is  thus  laid  even  by  this  philoso- 
pher of  materialism  for  the  truth  that  man  is  a  son 
of  God,  and  for  the  play  of  the  feelings  in  him  of 
hope,  of  love,  of  faith,  of  worship,  of  prayer — feel- 
ings which  find  their  only  full  meaning  and  end  in 
Christianity. 

Science  and  religion  have  waged  a  long  and  re- 
lentless warfare ;  but  this  new  century  beholds  the 
retreating  forces  of  every  system  of  philosophy 
which  confounds  God  with  his  works,  and  shuts  in 
the  soul  writh  all  its  imperial  powers  to  that  which 
responds  only  to  the  mere  physics  and  dynamics  of 
living  and  dead  matter. 

One  of  the  keenest  of  these  unbelieving  scientists 
exclaimed  only  the  other  day  :  "  Materialism  had 
its  innings  down  to  the  very  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  but  already  it  is  counted  out  of  the  game." 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  47 

Lord  Kelvin,  the  acknowledged  leader  in  science, 
says:  "Modern  biologists  are  coming  once  more  to 
a  firm  acceptance  of  something  beyond  mere  gravi- 
tational, chemical  and  physical  forces.  We  scientists 
only  know  God  through  his  works,  but  we  are  ab- 
solutely forced  by  science  to  believe  in  a  Directive 
power." 

The  challenge  of  this  twentieth  century  is  for  a 
larger,  higher  science  illumined  by  Christian  faith, 
which  shall  find  an  interpretation  of  creation  in  a 
personal  Creator,  and  an  interpretation  of  man  in 
Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour.  This  realm  of  philoso- 
phy in  which  unbelief  has  so  long  rioted,  but  is  now 
so  sorely  worsted,  "is  waiting  for  the  manifestation 
of  the  sons  of  God." 

Is  it  too  much  to  believe  that  within  these  next 
hundred  years  the  great  prayer  of  Bacon  shall  be 
answered :  '  'This  also  we  humbly  and  earnestly  beg 
that  human  things  may  not  prejudice  such  as  are 
divine  ;  neither  that  from  the  unlocking  of  the  gates 
of  sense,  and  the  kindling  of  a  greater  natural  light, 
anything  of  incredulity  or  intellectual  night  may 
arise  in  our  mind  towards  divine  mysteries,  but 
rather  by  our  mind  thoroughly  cleansed  and  purged 
from  fancy  and  vanities,  and  yet  subject  and  per- 
fectly given  up  to  the  divine  oracles,  there  may  be 
given  unto  faith  the  things  that  are  faith's." 

In  theology  there  have  been  in  the  last  century 
nothing  short  of  revolutions. 


48  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

Systems  of  doctrine,  creeds  and  confessions 
venerable  for  age,  made  sacred  by  association  with 
illustrious  periods  and  names  in  the  history  of  the 
church,  have  either  been  discarded,  or  largely  bereft 
of  their  power  to  overawe  the  reason,  or  command 
the  reverence  of  men.  Ideas  of  the  Bible,  of  the 
nature  and  degree  of  its  inspiration,  of  the  method 
of  interpreting  its  text  and  applying  its  spirit  have 
greatly  changed.  This  work  has  not  been  wholly 
that  of  hostile  critics  assaulting  the  bulwarks  of  all 
religion.  It  has  been  largely  the  results  of  a 
clearer-eyed  faith,  of  a  riper  scholarship,  of  that 
very  spirit  of  Christ  himself,  which  was  ever  im- 
patient with  the  dogma  of  tradition,  whose  great 
promise  was  of  a  progressive  leading  into  all  truth 
under  the  spirit  of  truth.  Theories  have  fallen,  for 
they  are  human.  They  are  built  out  of  the  links 
of  logic,  and  the  cold  intellect  of  man.  Theologies, 
which  are  only  the  structures  of  the  brain,  have  gone 
into  decay ;  but  the  foundations  laid  by  God  in  his 
everlasting  Word,  and  in  the  feelings,  the  imagina- 
tion, the  conscience,  the  deathless  hopes  of  the 
human  soul,  where  Spencer  finds  the  "essential  part 
of  even  the  human  mind,"  these  remain,  and  will 
ever  remain,  for,  as  Sabatier  says,  "man  is  incur- 
ably religious." 

"Our  little  systems  have  their  day  : 

They  have  tlK-ir  day  and  cease  to  be  ; 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  thee 
And,  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 


DR    SPALDING'S   ADDRESS  49 

During  this  better  century  upon  these  old  eternal 
foundations  shall  be  reared  a  grander  and  far  more 
beautiful  superstructure  of  theology,  wherein  reason 
shall  lift  its  mighty  columns,  and  holy  feeling, 
emotions  of  love  and  worship  shall  spring  their 
arches,  and  the  light  of  heaven  shall  flash  through 
its  storied  windows;  and  over  all,  when  the  head- 
stone shall  be  laid,  the  angels  of  God  and  all  rever- 
ent souls  throughout  all  the  world  with  shoutings 
shall  cry:   "Grace,  grace  unto  it." 

As  we  thus  review  the  past  and  forecast  the  future, 
we  ask,  some  in  dismay,  some  in  hope,  "When 
shall  these  great  aspirations,  these  noble  struggles, 
these  splendid  but  partial  achievements  of  this  last 
century  be  fulfilled  ?  When  shall  its  noblest  ideals 
become  our  ideals,  and  its  problems  so  serious, 
which  it  has  itself  begotten,  when  shall  they  be 
solved?  " 

There  is  a  legend  of  the  Alps,  how  three  Swit- 
zers  among  the  depths  of  a  lofty  mountain  are 
awaiting  the  daybreak.  They  sleep;  they  dream. 
But  their  great  thoughts  even  in  their  slumbers  are 
of  liberty,  not  only  of  Swiss  liberty,  but  of  liberty 
and  happiness  for  all  mankind.  From  time  to  time, 
so  the  story  runs,  one  will  awaken,  and  go  forth  to 
look  upon  the  world  of  lakes  and  plains,  but  ever 
to  return  in  sadness  to  his  companions.  And  as  he 
rouses  them,  he  sighs  into  their  drowsy  ears  the 
words:      ' '  Not  yet,  not  yet  comes  the  day  of  deliver- 

4 


60  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

ance.  Ever  slaves,  the  people  cease  not  to  worship 
their  master's  hats."  And  then  the  watchers  sink 
again  into  sleep,  and  dream  of  liberty. 

' '  Not  yet, ' '  ' 'not  yet, ' '  rolls  in  upon  us  from  this 
twentieth  century.  But  it  is  a  thrilling  challenge, 
not  a  despairing  cry.  Let  it  not  find  us  sleeping, 
and  dreaming  of  the  glories  of  the  past  or  only 
dreaming  of  glories  yet  to  be.  Let  not  past  achieve- 
ments abash  us.  Let  not  unsolved  problems 
frighten  us.  The  evils  so  giantlike  which  stand 
with  gleaming  spears  and  iron  armor  at  the  very 
gateway  of  the  century  ;  let  them  be  the  very  oppor- 
tunities for  our  largest  courage,  for  resistless  fight- 
ing, for  final  and  complete  victory. 

Bvils  social,  political  and  religious,  however 
appalling,  so  long  as  they  are  clearly  seen  by  us, 
so  long  as  they  are  not  accepted  as  inevitable,  or 
believed  by  us  to  be  unconquerable,  are  really 
occasions  for  the  display  of  all  our  best  manhood 
and  our  Christian  faith. 

Oh  to  be  young  once  more,  to  enter  with  renewed 
ardor  and  high  hope  into  the  mighty  battles  of  this 
century  !  To  push  our  way,  to  fight  our  way  close 
up  to  where  the  fray  is  thickest,  where  the  ruby 
banner  of  the  divine  leader  waves  us  onward  ;  some 
of  us  feel  that  this  would  be  a  privilege  only  less 
than  heaven.  It  is  this  thought  of  life  as  a  great 
conflict  with  evil  that  gives  to  life  all  its  worth,  all 
its  splendor.     Heaven  is  the  spoils  of  such  battle- 


DR    SPALDING'S  ADDRESS  51 

fields  of  earth,  if  only  our  hearts  fail  not,  and  faith 
endures. 

May  the  words  of  Gladstone,  England's  grand- 
est man,  ring  across  every  successive  generation  of 
this  twentieth  century  like  an  archangel's  trumpet 
peal :  u  O  young  men,  be  inspired  with  the  belief 
that  to  live  is  something  magnificent,  that  life  itself 
is  a  great  and  noble  calling ;  not  a  mean  and  grov- 
elling thing,  but  a  grand  and  lofty  destiny." 

The  imperative  need  of  this  new  age  is  of  true 
men.  The  first  requisite  of  all  national  life,  of 
religion  and  civilization,  is  personality.  It  is  not 
science,  nor  ideas,  nor  institutions;  it  is  not  wealth, 
nor  learning,  nor  legislation,  that  can  save  us  from 
the  drifts  of  corrupt  politics,  and  wolfish  greeds, 
and  dying  faith.  It  is  the  one  power  of  personal 
influence  that  can  stay  these  evils,  and  lift  society 
and  the  world  into  righteousness.  God  in  the  in- 
carnation of  his  Son  in  our  humanity  has  set  his 
seal  to  this  truth. 

And  this  is  the  philosophy  of  this  University.  It 
was  the  distinctive  teaching  of  its  greatest  president 
of  the  past,  and  has  been  nobly  followed  through 
the  whole  line  of  his  successors,  and  has  inspired 
with  saving  power  the  great  army  of  its  graduates 
who  have  fought  for  righteousness. 

The  central  principle  in  the  philosophy  of  Presi- 
dent Marsh  as  set  forth  by  his  illustrious  biographer, 
Professor  Torrey ,  was  :  ' '  Man  must  himself  become 
what  he   knows.  *  *  *    In  his  power  to  do   this, 


52  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

joined  with  the  infinite  capacity  of  his  spirit,  lies 
the  possibility  of  his  endless  progress." 

Let  us  in  this  spirit  face  this  perilous  and  yet 
most  promising  of  all  the  centuries.  Let  its  perils 
and  its  promises  alike  challenge  all  our  Christian 
manhood,  and  fill  our  souls  with  the  very  rapture 
of  the  strife. 

"  O  wondrous  call  to  conquests  new  ! 
O  thrill  of  blood  !     O  joy  of  soul  ! 
O  peaks  with  ever  widening  view  ! 
O  race  with  still  receding  goal  ! 

The  future  and  the  past  we'll  scan 
With  sense  refined  and  vision  keen, 

Explore  beyond  this  lower  land 
The  treasures  of  a  realm  unseen, 

Until  we  stand  with  regal  brow 

No  more  as  on  the  primal  sod, 
A  creature  yet  ungrown,  but  now 

Lord  of  two  worlds  and  friend  of  God." 


THE  ALUMNI  CONFERENCE 


ON  THE 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
IN  THE  WORLD 


THE  ADVANCE  IN  INTERNATIONAL 
RELATIONS  DURING  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH   CENTURY 


BY   JOHN    A.    KASSON,    LL.    D.,    1842 


After  many  years  of  absence  and  varied  expe- 
riences, it  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  bring  back  my 
gray  hairs  to  this  University,  the  venerable  mother 
of  our  intellectual  training.  Remembering  the 
dignity  and  ability  of  President  Wheeler,  the  gentle 
manner  and  profound  philosophy  of  Professor 
Marsh,  the  admirable  Greek  scholarship  of  Professor 
Torrey,  and  the  high  mathematical  training  taught 
by  the  Professors  Benedict,  I  bow  an  octogenarian 
head  before  her  centennial  Majesty,  and  acknowledge 
the  debt  which  all  the  sons  of  the  University  owe  to 
her. 

Upon  memorial  occasions  like  the  present  all 
thoughts  turn  to  the  contrast  between  the  conditions 
which  existed  at  the  beginning,  and  at  the  end,  of 
the  century  under  review.  Your  honored  President 
has  invited  me  to  speak  briefly  of  one  of  these  con- 
trasts, as  illustrated  by  the  advance  of  International 
Law. 


56  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

This  title  is  not  precisely  definitive  of  my  subject. 
When  we  speak  of  law  as  applicable  to  men  or 
to  nations  in  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  it 
implies  the  exercise  of  a  jurisdiction  over  the  subject- 
matter,  and  over  the  people  to  whom  it  is  to  be 
applied.  No  such  competent  legislative  authority 
has  ever  been  established  among  nations.  So  far 
as  international  rules  have  been  accepted  by  treaty 
between  two  or  more  nations  they  have  become  in  a 
proper  sense  laws,  binding  the  signatory  Powers  so 
long  as  the  treaties  are  in  force,  but  not  binding  as 
a  law  upon  the  nations  not  assenting  to  them. 
Grotius,  who  founded  the  science  of  International 
Law,  furnished  a  series  of  rules  which  were  educed 
from  the  principles  of  justice  and  morality,  and 
which  ought  to  be  applied  to  the  intercourse  of 
nations  in  peace  and  in  war.  Subsequent  writers 
on  the  science  have  proceeded  on  similar  lines, 
sometimes  enlarging  or  limiting  or  modifying  the 
so-called  laws.  They  have  sought  to  fortify  these 
rules  by  precedents  and  customs  among  nations. 
But  these  customs  have  been  frequently  violated, 
and  each  nation  claims  the  right  to  modify  its  own 
customs  where  no  common  and  superior  authority 
exists  to  control  them.  It  seems  therefore  that  my 
subject  should  rather  be  styled  The  Advance  in 
International  Relations  during  the  XlXth  Century. 

There  is  an  additional  source  of  pleasure  in 
speaking  of  this  subject,  in  the  fact  that  the  United 
States  has  been  an  important  factor  in  this  advance. 


JOHN   A.    KASSONTS    ADDRESS  57 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  Europe,  during  the 
earlier  years  of  this  University,  international  re- 
lations and  usages  had  fallen  into  great  disorder. 
The  ideas  and  wars  of  revolutionary  France  had 
deranged  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  public 
right  and  wrong.  Various  nations  had  largely 
abolished,  or  abandoned,  previous  international 
usages.  Neutral  nations  were  invaded  at  will,  and 
their  governments  overthrown.  Neutral  vessels 
were  seized  without  justification.  Bven  the  naval 
squadron  of  a  neutral  government  was  captured  in 
the  neutral  port  of  Copenhagen  for  no  other  reason 
than  the  fear  that  the  enemy  of  the  captor  would 
commit  the  same  outrage  if  not  anticipated.  The 
right  of  search  on  the  high  seas  of  neutral  vessels 
and  their  cargoes,  and  the  right  of  capture  of  former 
subjects  found  on  such  neutral  vessels,  was  asserted, 
and  caused  our  war  of  1812  with  England.  If  the 
cargoes  of  neutral  vessels  on  the  high  seas  were 
wanted  by  a  warring  nation  they  were  seized  and 
confiscated.  Derangement  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  one  country  was  held  to  justify  its  invasion  by 
another.  The  voluntary  change  by  one  nation  of 
its  former  government  was  held  to  be  so  dangerous 
to  the  principles  of  other  forms  of  government  that 
a  nation  might  be  invaded,  and  its  government 
overthrown,  for  that  reason  alone.  It  was  so  held 
by  the  Congress  of  Laybach  as  late  as  1821  ;  and 
the  power  was  exercised  upon  Italy  and  Spain. 
It  would  require  a  volume  to  give  a  detailed  recital 


58  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

of  the  utter  confusion  into  which  not  only  the  Rules 
theoretically  established  between  nations,  but  even 
the  primary  principles  of  international  justice  and 
morality,  had  fallen  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

Slowly  the  various  nations  emerged  from  their 
condition  of  international  disorder.  For  a  time  the 
violence  of  tyranny  replaced  the  violence  of  popular 
revolution.  The  Congress  of  Vienna,  in  1815, 
proved  that  the  great  Powers  of  Europe  discarded 
the  rules  of  international  justice  in  their  effort  to 
arbitrarily  rearrange  Europe,  and  were  chiefly  con- 
trolled by  self-interest.  The  Congress  of  the  four 
great  military  Powers  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1818 
claimed  an  undefined  right  of  supervision,  or  inter- 
vention, in  the  internal  affairs  of  other  states.  At 
the  Congresses  of  Troppau  (1820),  Laybach  (1821), 
and  Verona  (1822),  this  right  of  intervention,  and 
control  of  the  forms  of  government  in  other  nations, 
was  stoutly  asserted  by  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prus- 
sia, and  they  attempted  to  make  it  a  part  of  inter- 
national law.  Great  Britain  protested,  and  declared 
against  it.  Then  began  a  reaction  in  favor  of  the 
greater  independence  of  nations  in  their  internal 
affairs,  and  the  greater  liberty  of  separate  peoples 
to  shape  their  own  government.  The  United 
States  led  the  way  by  recognizing  the  independence 
of  the  South  American  Republics.  In  1823  this 
government  gave  a  further  impulse  to  this  reaction- 
ary movement  toward    international  independence 


JOHN   A.   KASSON'S   ADDRESS  59 

and  liberty  by  the  famous  declaration  of  President 
Monroe,  and  gave  notice  of  it  to  Europe.  In  1830 
France  asserted  her  right  to  change  her  interior 
government,  by  discarding  one  royal  family  and 
choosing  another  more  liberal;  and  Europe  did  not 
resist. 

The  slow  progress  of  the  improvement  in  inter- 
national relations  during  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  largely  due  to  the  limited  inter- 
course between  the  peoples  of  the  respective  countries, 
and  the  consequent  lack  of  mutual  knowledge  and 
of  sympathy  between  them.  Diplomats  were  still 
distrusted,  and  it  seemed  that  the  definition  of  an 
Ambassador  was  then,  as  in  the  time  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  Venice,  "an  honest  man  sent  abroad  to  lie 
for  the  good  of  his  country."  Arbitrary  govern- 
ments could  make  war  without  any  reference  to 
popular  feeling.  Compared  with  present  conditions, 
commerce  was  very  limited,  and  transportation  was 
slow.  Wars  of  colonial  conquest  were  waged  to  aid 
commerce  by  the  monopolistic  control  of  markets. 

But  the  first  few  years  of  the  century  saw  the 
power  of  steam  successfully  applied  to  commercial 
transportation  on  the  Hudson  River.  This  was 
followed  by  a  development,  at  first  slow  but  after- 
ward rapid  and  enormous,  of  steam  power  in  the 
transportation  of  persons  and  property  on  land  and 
sea,  and  between  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  The 
later  inventions  of  the  telegraph  and  the  telephone 
have   brought  different   countries   into   still    more 


60  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

intimate  relations.  In  consequence  of  these  inven- 
tions, and  their  influence  upon  international 
interests,  the  importance  of  well-ordered  and  peace- 
ful relations  with  other  countries  has  impressed 
itself  upon  all  commercial  nations.  Their  material 
interests  now  demand  the  perpetuation  of  conditions 
of  peace. 

There  is  another  element  in  the  improvement  of 
the  relations  between  the  countries  of  the  world 
which  should  not  be  forgotten.  When  the  Mon- 
archs  of  Europe  had  finished  their  work  of  reorgan- 
ization after  the  Napoleonic  wars,  every  government 
on  the  continent  except  Switzerland  was  monarchi- 
cal. The  people's  influence  as  far  as  possible  was 
suppressed.  But  an  unobserved  liberal  force  was  at 
work,  and  widely  asserted  itself  in  1848  in  a  re- 
assertion  of  the  rights  of  the  people  to  a  voice  in  the 
government.  It  was  followed  by  important  histor- 
ical sequences,  and  changed  the  map  of  Europe  as 
established  by  the  Vienna  Congress.  France  became 
a  Republic.  Parliamentary  governments  were 
elsewhere  introduced.  The  conflicting  principali- 
ties and  alien  autocrats  of  Italy  were  overthrown. 
United  Italy,  with  her  free  parliamentary  institu- 
tions, was  introduced  by  her  ambassadors  to  the 
same  autocratic  governments  which  had  resolved  in 
1822  that  they  would  never  permit  popular  govern- 
ment in  Italy.  Hungary  won  her  autonomy  ;  and 
both  Austria  and  Hungary  established  Parliaments. 
The  many  autonomous   divisions  of   the    German 


JOHN   A.   KASSONS   ADDRESS  61 

speaking  peoples  (Austria  excepted)  have  been 
merged  in  the  German  Empire,  with  :a  common 
Parliament.  Parliamentary  representation  of  the 
people  has  been  established  in  ever}7  country  of 
Europe  except  Russia.  Thus  a  common  bond  of 
popular  right,  and  a  common  sentiment  that  these 
rights  as  well  as  private  interests  are  endangered  by 
imperial  or  royal  wars,  predispose  them  to  peace 
with  their  neighbors. 

Nor  should  I  omit  to  mention  the  introduction  in 
the  last  half  century  of  international  Conferences 
for  other  than  political  purposes,  and  which  have 
had  a  great  influence  in  promoting  peaceful  rela- 
tions. So  far  as  I  remember,  the  first  of  these 
assemblies  was  invited  by  the  United  States  in  1863 
to  meet  at  Paris.  It  was  initiated  by  a  graduate  of 
this  University,  who  was  also  appointed  as  the 
representative  of  the  United  States  in  the  Confer- 
ence. It  was  composed  of  the  representatives  of 
thirteen  governments  ;  and  its  object  was  to  facili- 
tate and  promote  postal  intercourse  between  all  their 
peoples,  by  land  and  sea.  Its  resulting  agreements 
simplified  postal  business,  reduced  greatly  the 
postal  charges,  and  produced  a  vastly  increased 
intercourse  through  the  mails.  It  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  succession  of  such  Conferences,  and  by 
the  organization  of  the  admirable  Postal  Union  now 
existing.  This  Union  now  embraces  all  the  intelli- 
gent nations  of  the  world,  and  has  especially  tended 
to  the  promotion  of  international  friendships.     Its 


62  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

rules  have  become  the  most  universally  accepted  of 
any  relating  to  the  intercourse  of  nations  ;  and  may 
well  suggest  to  thinking  men  a  plan  for  further 
official  conference  of  the  nations  in  respect  to  other 
of  their  relations  in  peace  and  in  war.  This  origi- 
nal conference  has  been  followed  by  many  other 
international  assemblies,  scientific  and  practical. 
Among  them  is  the  very  important  official  Confer- 
ence which  established  the  ' '  Red  Cross  ' '  Associa- 
tion, for  the  introduction  of  mercy  into  the  savage 
usages  of  war.  Many  of  them  have  been  unofficial 
efforts  to  promote  the  peace  of  the  world,  and  to 
encourage  the  formation  of  a  Code  of  international 
law  to  be  expressly  sanctioned  by  governments. 
The  tendency  of  all  of  them  has  been  toward  the 
preservation  of  peace  among  nations,  the  security 
of  private  rights  which  have  heretofore  been  sacri- 
ficed in  war,  and  toward  the  advancement  of  pros- 
perity in  all  nations. 

Nor  should  I  fail  to  mention  the  introduction  into 
international  relations  of  the  usage  of  voluntary 
arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  their  disputes. 
The  United  States  has  won  an  enviable  distinction 
bv  the  frequent  adoption  of  that  method  for  the 
adjustment  of  vexatious  questions  which  otherwise 
might  have  threatened  a  resort  to  arms.  Her 
influence  in  the  Congo  Conference  secured  a  pro- 
vision for  the  preservation  of  peace  in  Central 
Africa  by  recognizing  the  neutrality  of  the  Congo 
region  in  case  of  conflict  between    European    pro- 


JOHN   A.    KASSON'S    ADDRESS  63 

prietors  of  the  territory.  There  is  an  increasing 
disposition  in  Western  Europe,  and  in  both  the 
Americas,  to  resort  to  arbitration  for  the  adjustment 
of  a  large  part  of  the  disputes  likely  to  arise  be- 
tween nations.  It  is  one  of  the  most  encouraging 
signs  of  our  century.  We  owe  to  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  the  assemblage  of  The  Hague  Conference, 
and  the  agreements  there  effected  in  the  interests 
of  peace.  It  remains  to  be  seen  how  far  the 
Powers  will  avail  themselves  of  the  agencies  there 
provided  for  the  security  of  international  amity. 
The  United  States  has  already  approved  it  by  a 
resort  to  its  tribunal.  That  institution  will  grow 
in  importance  according  to  the  sincerity  of  the  sig- 
natory Powers,  to  be  shown  by  their  resort  to  it  for 
determining  the  justice  of  disputed  international 
claims. 

One  great  provocation  of  war  during  the  century 
was  the  conflict  of  undefined  claims  to  the  various 
regions  subject  to  colonial  acquisition,  or  in  respect 
to  which  different  governments  contemplated  control 
over  the  native  tribes.  The  diplomatists  of  the 
colonial  Powers  have  invented  the  term  u  spheres 
of  influence."  By  treaty,  or  by  more  informal 
understanding,  they  have  agreed  to  acknowledge 
certain  defined  regions  as  within  the  sphere  of  in- 
fluence of  a  particular  Power.  So  far  as  this  is 
done  a  possible  future  cause  of  war  is  removed,  and 
the  peace  of  the  natives  is  not  endangered  by  the 
rival  jealousies  of  foreign  powers.     The  latest  act 


64  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

of  this  description  is  the  relinquishment  by  England 
to  France  of  "  influence  "  over  the  semibarbarous 
State  of  Morocco.  This  system  may  well  be  ex- 
tended by  other  European  States  to  the  countries 
south  of  the  Danube,  where  wars  for  supremacy  of 
influence  are  threatened.  In  fact,  long  before  the 
invention  of  this  diplomatic  phrase,  the  declaration 
of  Monroe  as  early  as  1823  sought  to  exclude  both 
of  the  Americas,  so  far  as  not  already  in  foreign 
possession,  from  the  sphere  of  European  influence. 
If  his  proposition  shall  be  accepted  by  Europe,  as 
now  appears  probable,  in  exchange  for  non- 
interference by  the  United  States  in  European  affairs, 
it  will  go  far  for  the  preservation  of  peace  in  the 
future  relations  between  the  nations  of  Europe  and 
America. 

The  methods  of  warfare  have  also  received  an 
important  modification  in  the  last  half-century  by 
the  abolition  of  privateering.  This  was  expressly 
agreed  to  in  1856  by  the  leading  naval  Powers  of 
Europe  in  case  of  war  between  themselves.  The 
United  States  declined  to  sign  the  agreement  unless 
it  was  accompanied  by  the  abandonment  of  the  right 
of  capture  of  private  property  on  the  high  seas  by 
naval  vessels  as  well  as  by  privateers.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  not  probable  that  the  United  States  will 
again  resort  to  the  issue  of  Letters  of  Marque. 
There  is  also  reason  to  hope  that  European  nations 
will  yet  agree  to  the  exemption  from  capture  of 
private  property   afloat,   to  the  same  extent   as  on 


JOHN   A.   KASSON'S   ADDRESS  65 

land.  It  rests  on  the  same  principle, — that  captures 
should  only  be  made  of  men  engaged  in  war,  and 
of  property  appropriated  to  the  uses  of  war.  Beyond 
this,  it  is  in  effect  waging  war  against  private  per- 
sons who  happen  to  be  citizens  of  the  enemy's  state. 
The  reasons  given  to  justify  it  would  equally  apply 
to  the  capture  at  sea  of  private  persons  as  prisoners 
of  war,  and  to  the  seizure  or  destruction  of  private 
property  on  land. 

From  the  time  of  Darius,  throughout  the  periods 
of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  of  Roman  subjugation, 
of  Mohammedan  expansion,  and  of  Tamerlane, 
down  to  the  times  of  Napoleon  and  of  Bismarck,  the 
great  motive  of  destructive  wars  has  been  the  desire 
of  one  nation  to  enlarge  its  territorial  dominion, 
irrespective  of  rules  of  justice,  or  claim  of  right. 
Indeed,  conquest  however  unjustifiable  has  been 
and  still  is  recognized  as  the  foundation  of  right  to 
territorial  possession.  This  element  of  injustice  in 
international  law  can  only  be  eradicated  by  time, 
and  by  the  gradual  correction  of  public  opinion  in 
accordance  with  Christian  principles  applied  to 
nations.  This  advance  has  already  begun.  I 
think  it  safe  to  say  that  there  is  but  one  govern- 
ment in  Kurope  or  America  that  would  now  make 
war  upon  another  Christian  nation  avowedly  for  the 
conquest  of  its  territory.  I  say  upon  another 
"  Christian  "  nation,  because  the  territory  south  of 
the  Danube  still  occupied  by  Turkey  was  acquired 


66  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

by  her  by  conquest,  and  may  probably  be  recon- 
quered and  restored  to  Christian  dominion  by  some 
European  Power  under  claim  of  moral  right.  It  is 
significant  that  all  the  cabinets  of  Europe  and 
America,  with  the  one  exception  of  Russia,  proclaim 
their  armies  and  navies  to  be  "  defensive  ' '  organ- 
izations. They  would  blush  to  acknowledge  them 
as  organizations  for  conquest.  This  indicates  the 
potency  of  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  peace.  If  this 
opinion  of  the  tendency  of  the  nations  of  both 
Europe  and  America  shall  be  justified  by  future 
events,  it  will  mark  a  glorious  stride  forward  in 
international  relations. 

However  gratifying  may  be  the  progress  of  the 
last  century,  very  much  remains  to  be  done  for  the 
advancement  of  international  law  in  the  present 
century.  Its  rules  are  yet  to  be  codified,  and  ex- 
pressly sanctioned  by  the  nations,  and  so  converted 
into  unquestionable  law.  It  cannot  be  fully  ac- 
complished by  any  one  complete  code,  or  in  any 
given  period  of  time.  No  strong  government  will 
commit  itself  to  arbitration  in  every  case  of  dispute, 
or  to  the  abandonment  of  the  right  of  war  in  all 
cases  of  quarrel.  All  governments  will,  however, 
agree  to  submit  certain  well  defined  and  carefully 
classified  questions  of  international  difference  to  an 
impartial  tribunal.  Some  governments  will  agree 
to  submit  certain  questions  to  a  neutral  Power  with 
a  view  to  mediation  before  a  resort  to  arms.  Points 
of  honor  may  be  submitted  to  a  neutral  board  of 


JOHN   A.   KASSON'S   ADDRESS  67 

honor  without  loss  of  national  prestige.  Occasions 
of  dissension  must  be  carefully  distinguished,  and 
so  defined  as  to  allow  each  government  to  accept  so 
much  of  the  codes  of  peace  as  it  is  willing  to  ex- 
pressly adopt.  It  is  of  vast  importance  to  the  future 
progress  of  the  work  to  make  beginning  of  a  Code, 
however  limited,  which  shall  have  the  avowed  sup- 
port of  the  great  Powers.  The  minor  governments 
wTill  hasten  to  concur.  If  Germany  and  England, 
with  France  and  the  United  States,  will  lead  the 
way,  the  majority  of  the  world  of  civilization  will 
gladly  follow.  The  stigma  of  lingering  barbarism 
will  fall  upon  any  nation  which  shall  refuse  its  con- 
currence in  such  a  movement.  This  is  the  great 
work  to  be  accomplished  in  the  XXth  century.  It 
is  demanded  alike  by  Christianity  and  by  the 
material  interests  of  all  industrial  nations. 

May  some  favored  son  of  our  University,  begin- 
ning his  studies  in  early  life,  win  immortal  honor 
by  presenting  to  the  nations  the  first  brief  Code 
which  shall  be  expressly  adopted  by  them  ;  and  so 
lay  the  foundation  of  that  which  shall  become  in 
truth  the  international  law  of  the  world. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AS  A  PRESERVER  AND 

TEACHER  OF  THE  EXPERIENCE  OF 

NATIONS  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS 


BY    CHARLES    A.    KENT,    LL.  D.,    1856 


The  strong  individual  is,  in  his  youth,  often 
subject  to  wild  irrational  passions,  which,  unless 
controlled  by  reason  based  on  experience,  lead  to 
ruin.  Wisdom  consists  in  the  power  of  learning 
the  proper  lessons  of  life.  Experience  may  be  a 
hard  school,  but  many,  not  fools,  find  it  difficult  to 
learn  in  any  other.  One  of  the  greatest  differences 
between  men  who  gain  the  prizes  of  life,  and  those 
who  fail,  is  in  their  aptitude  to  learn  by  experience. 
It  is  with  nations  much  as  it  is  with  individuals. 
The  strongest  have  the  most  powerful  impulses  to 
action.  The  great  and  growing  nations  of  the  world 
are  seeking  a  constantly  enlarging  development. 
They  are  ever  eager  for  changes,  which  are  thought 
to  be  improvements.  But  national  passions  may 
be  as  irrational  and  as  dangerous  as  those  of  indi- 
viduals. These  passions  need  the  correction  de- 
rived from  experience.  Such  experience  on  any 
subject  is  seldom  complete  in  the  lives  of  any 
generation.     And  where  it  is,  the  individuals   die, 


CHARLES  A.  KENT'S  ADDRESS  69 

and  their  places  are  supplied  by  new  men  who  have 
to  learn  the  old  lessons.  Human  nature  is  very 
much  the  same  in  all  periods.  The  greater  prob- 
lems are  in  substance  perpetually  recurring.  Al- 
ways there  are  enthusiastic  reformers,  who  have 
some  speedy  panacea  for  all  political  evils.  The 
form  of  government  has  no  great  effect  on  these 
problems.  Everywhere  there  is  constant  struggle 
for  power.  Everywhere  the  contestants  are  offering 
remedies  for  the  public  ills. 

In  Democratic  countries  especially,  wherever 
power  is  to  be  gained  by  the  advocacy  of  any 
theories,  however  unreasonable  and  destructive, 
there  will  always  be  demagogues  ready  to  support 
them.  There  are  never  wanting  politicians  who 
profess  openly  ' '  that  they  seek  only  to  listen  to  the 
voice  of  the  people"  however  irrational,  and  obey 
it.  And  if  we  study  the  platforms  of  our  great 
political  parties  when  preparing  for  an  important 
contest,  we  shall  find  that  their  chief  if  not  their 
only  motive,  is  to  make  such  professions  as  will  be 
popular.  No  doubt  there  are  times  when  political 
passions  are  so  strong  that  the  wisest  leaders  must 
bow  to  them  or  retire  from  power.  But  it  is  certain 
that  no  government  can  permanently  prosper  if  led 
by  the  representatives  of  its  most  ignorant  classes. 
Government  is  an  increasingly  complicated  instru- 
ment. It  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  wisest  to 
manage  it  without  blunders.  The  greatest  danger 
to  Democratic  institutions  has  always  been,    and  is 


70  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

now,  in  the  lack  of  appreciation  by  the  mass  of  the 
people  of  the  wisdom  needed  in  governors.  Many 
public  officers  are  elected  with  hardly  any  consid- 
eration of  their  merits.  We  have  governors  and 
United  States  senators,  whose  sole  qualification  is 
wealth  and  political  management. 

The  ignorant  will  blunder.     This  disposition   to 
ignore  merit  needs  to  be  constantly  fought.     The 
appeals  of  enthusiasts  and  demagogues  to  popular 
prejudices  and  passions  must  also  be  resisted.     And 
probably  the  most  effective  argument  with   Anglo- 
Saxon  people  lies  in  an  appeal  to  experience,  foreign 
as  well   as  national.     To  him  who  knows  history 
there  are  abundant  illustrations  of  such  evils.     A 
knowledge  of  the  great  evils  coming  from   incom- 
petent rulers,  from  the  delusions  of  fanatics  and  the 
deceptions  of  demagogues  is  not  to  be  found  among 
the  people  in  general.     They  are  absorbed  in   the 
interests  of  the  day.     They  cannot  look  far  back- 
ward or  forward.     A  knowledge  of  the   experience 
of  nations  will  seldom  be  found  outside  of  the  edu- 
cated classes,  and  these  are  mainly  graduates  from 
universities.     Universities,  when  once  firmly  estab- 
lished,   are  among  the   most  enduring  of  human 
institutions.     Forms   of   government  change    and 
dynasties  perish  without  affecting  their  permanence. 
The  history  of  the  great   universities    of  Europe 
proves  this. 

After  seven  centuries  of  existence  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  bid  fair  to  perish  only  with   England. 


CHARLES  A.  KENT'S  ADDRESS  71 

Our  university  libraries  contain  the  experience  of 
the  past.  Nowhere  else  are  books  so  likely  to  be 
preserved.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  professors,  each  in 
his  department,  to  master  the  past  and  show  its 
relations  to  the  present.  The  doctrine  of  evolution, 
whatever  may  be  its  demerits,  has  brought  the 
connection  of  the  past  with  the  present  more  vividly 
to  our  view  than  ever  before.  The  students  of  a 
great  university  must  be  taught  this  con- 
nection. They  ought  to  study  political  history, 
not  mainly  out  of  curiosity,  but  that  they  may 
understand  public  affairs  in  their  own  time.  Thu- 
cydides  should  be  read  for  the  light  he  throws  on 
the  political  institutions  of  our  day. 

The  study  of  political  history  is  most  important 
in  popular  governments.  It  is  especially  impor- 
tant in  countries  like  ours,  which  have  greatly 
prospered  under  democratic  institutions.  We  are 
in  the  great  danger  of  attributing  too  much  to  these 
institutions  and  of  despising  the  experience  of 
other  nations.  We  need  to  learn  that  the  laws  of 
political  economy  and  of  public  morals  can  be  violated 
with  as  little  impunity  as  those  of  the  natural  world. 

With  the  great  mass  of  studies  demanding  the 
attention  of  college  students  they  can  hardly  be 
expected  to  acquire  thorough  knowledge  of  any 
department,  but  they  should  learn  where  to  find 
the  history  of  the  past  and  a  love  for  its  study. 
They  will  then  be  able  to  complete  their  studies  in 
after  life.     The    great    truth   ought  always  to  be 


72  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

impressed,  that  trie  present  can  be  wisely  lived  only 
when  guided  by  the  experience  of  the  past.  There 
is  much  demand  to-day  for  a  practical  education  for 
teaching  our  youth  the  things  which  they  must 
practice  as  men.  This  demand  can  be  best  met, 
not  by  narrowing  college  studies  to  the  limit  of  the 
occupations  in  which  the  students  are  to  engage, 
but  by  teaching  all  sciences  in  such  way  that  the 
direct  connection  of  past  learning  with  the  present 
may  be  plain.  The  hope  of  this  and  every  other 
country  is  in  young  men  thus  educated.  No  doubt 
technical  skill  in  all  arts  must  be  thoroughly 
taught.  The  inventive  spirit  must  be  cultivated. 
We  need  specialists  in  every  department.  But  be- 
yond all  these,  we  need  men  of  calm  common  sense, 
broadly  educated,  able  to  see  human  life  as  it  is, 
incapable  of  being  deluded  by  appearances  or  of 
deluding  others.  Such  men  are  needed  to  guide 
the  public  in  all  departments  and  especially  in  that 
of  government. 

It  is  an  accepted  principle  of  our  political  life 
that  the  majority  must  govern,  however  ignorant  or 
immoral.  In  no  other  department  does  this  rule 
of  numbers  prevail  ;  and  in  government,  it  is  not 
adopted  as  a  perfect  rule,  but  because  no  other  ap- 
pears practicable.  The  state  cannot  divide  men 
according  to  their  wisdom  and  give  each  his 
proper  share  of  political  power.  The  rule  of  the 
majority  should  not  be  extended  by  needlessly  en- 
larging  the    sphere    of    government.     There    are 


CHARLES   A.   KENT'S   ADDRESS  73 

better  ways  of  ascertaining  the  merits  of  leaders  in 
private  life  than  by  counting-  noses.  In  choosing 
onr  lawyers,  doctors,  professors,  heads  of  great  in- 
dustrial institutions  and  the  like,  we  rely  on  experts 
and  count  majorities  of  the  ignorant  of  no  conse- 
quence. This  privilege  of  choosing  by  merit  should 
be  surrendered  only  in  matters  essential  to  govern- 
ment. And  the  rule  of  the  majority  should  not 
mean  that  of  an  uninstructed  majority.  Our  rulers 
must  be  taught.  And  this  duty  falls  with  the 
greatest  force  on  the  graduates  of  our  universities. 
They  have  been  educated  in  vain  if  they  do  not,  each 
according  to  his  ability,  act  in  the  community  where 
he  resides  as  a  conservator  of  all  good  institutions 
and  an  opposer  of  all  public  delusions.  To  do  this, 
it  is  not  necessary  that  university  men  should  seek 
office  or  become  party  leaders.  Political  life  is  not 
to-day,  perhaps  it  never  was,  a  field  fitted  for  a 
scrupulous  conscience.  There  are  many  voters 
whose  aims  are  purely  personal.  A  large  class  of 
politicians,  who  manage  the  party  caucuses  and 
conventions,  are  working  only  for  selfish  rewards. 
It  seems  impossible  for  one  ambitious  of  office  not 
to  seek  the  support  of  these  classes.  To  do  this, 
he  must  pay  them  either  in  money  or  in  the  promise 
of  office.  The  power  to  make  political  bargains, 
often  detrimental  to  the  public  good,  appears  almost 
indispensable  to  one  who  would  get  office  or  leader- 
ship in  our  great  political  parties.  But  one  may 
be  a  teacher  of  the  people  without  office  and  without 


74  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

any  close  connection  with  any  political  party.  The 
unselfishness  of  his  motives  may  increase  his  in- 
fluence. There  is  a  large  and  growing  body  of 
citizens  on  whom  party  allegiance  sits  lightly.  They 
are  willing  to  be  instructed  by  any  one  who  has 
made  himself  master  of  a  subject.  Where  great 
principles  are  at  stake,  the  influence  of  independ- 
ents may  be  decisive  of  a  municipal  or  even  a 
presidential  election. 

And  it  sometimes  happens  that  men  who  have 
been  elected  to  office  by  the  use  of  unscrupulous 
means  are,  when  seated  in  power,  ready  to  listen  to 
intelligent  advice.  They  seek  a  reputation  among 
the  best  class  of  citizens,  or  posthumous  fame,  and 
they  realize  that  these  things  cannot  be  given  by 
the  will  of  an  ignorant  majority. 

The  great  hope  for  the  improvement  of  govern- 
ment, municipal,  state  and  national,  is  in  the  wide 
diffusion  of  accurate  knowledge  among  the  voters 
of  their  true  interests.  Men  in  general  vote  either 
from  their  prejudices  or  from  a  calculation  of  their 
interests.  The  public  good,  as  opposed  to  private 
interests,  is  an  object  too  remote  to  control  the 
many.  It  is  necessary  to  convince  the  people  that  the 
public  interest  corresponds  with  their  individual 
welfare.  The  experience  of  the  past,  properly  un- 
derstood, shows  this. 

The  study  of  political  history  often  brings  en- 
couragement. Thoughtful  men  who  see  the  injus- 
tice and  the  corruption  of  the  present  sometimes  lose 


CHARLES  A.  KENT'S  ADDRESS  75 

heart,  and  feel  that  political  destruction  is  inevitable. 
But  the  past  often  shows  evils  as  great  as  those  of 
the  present.  Political  life  has  in  all  ages  presented 
a  struggle  of  the  fiercest  passions.  It  has  seldom 
been  a  school  for  virtue.  And  yet  society  has  some- 
how got  on,  and  government  is  perhaps  as  pure  now 
as  it  has  generally  been. 

Against  the  delusions  of  fanatics  and  the  decep- 
tions of  demagogues,  the  chief  protection  is  an 
appeal  to  the  experience  of  nations,  our  own,  and 
that  of  others.  The  mission  of  educated  men  is 
to  throw  the  light  of  science  and  history  upon  every 
public  question  as  it  arises.  The  recent  experience 
of  this  country  shows  that  much  can  be  done  by 
educated  men,  relying  on  the  light  of  the  past. 

For  many  years  prior  to  1896,  we  were  threatened 
with  the  dangerous  doctrine,  that  cheap  money 
created  by  the  government  is  the  royal  road  to 
prosperity.  To  many  the  argument  seemed  simple 
and  plain.  The  government  must  determine  what 
shall  be  money.  Whatever  the  government  makes 
money  must  be  received  as  such  by  all.  The 
government  had  made  money  out  of  paper,  and 
business  seemed  to  be  increased  thereby.  Then 
why  should  not  this  great  power  of  government  be 
used  to  make  money  abundant  and  cheap  to  all,  so 
that  interest  may  be  reduced,  or  perhaps  altogether 
done  away,  and  the  power  of  the  lender  over  the 
borrower  destroyed  ?  If  the  question  had  been  a 
new  one,  these  arguments,  backed  by  the  common 


76  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

prejudice  of  the  poor  against  the  rich,  had  been  hard 
to  meet.  But  as  every  intelligent  man  knows,  the 
attempt  to  make  money  cheap  has  been  tried  many 
times  in  history,  and  always  with  disastrous  results. 

In  the  campaigns  for  sound  money  in  1896  and 
1900  the  educated  men  of  the  country  were  almost 
unanimous,  and  they  took  an  extraordinary  interest 
in  the  contest  and,  largely  through  their  aid,  a 
victory  was  won  which  has  probably  settled  the 
question  for  this  generation. 

Other  questions  are  coming  to  the  front  which 
require  a  similar  appeal  to  the  lessons  of  experience. 
In  some  countries  socialism  has  awakened  a  zeal, 
which  a  recent  able  writer  in  the  North  American 
has  likened  to  that  which  produced  the  early  tri- 
umphs of  Christianity.  To  me,  socialism  in  its 
extreme  form,  appears  too  impracticable,  too  un- 
thinkable even,  to  be  dangerous.  It  will  break 
down  the  moment  any  serious  attempt  is  made  to 
to  put  it  into  practice.  But  there  is  danger  that 
the  sphere  of  government  will  be  slowly  and 
insidiously  increased,  until  the  liberty  of  indi- 
vidual enterprise  will  be  so  reduced  that  able  men 
can  find  no  adequate  employment  save  in  govern- 
ment service,  and  government  will  become  an  all- 
embracing  trust,  ruled  by  those  who,  by  whatever 
arts,  can  make  themselves  the  leaders  of  a  majority 
however  ignorant.  Men  in  power  or  seeking  power 
are  likely  to  desire  the  extension  of  governmental 
control,   since   this    will    increase    their   means   of 


CHARLES  A.  KENT'S  ADDRESS  77 

rewarding  their  followers.  And  the  laborers  who 
are  taught  that  all  the  products  of  labor  belong  of 
right  to  them,  may  be  made  to  believe  that  govern- 
ment can  furnish  all  needed  capital  without  price. 

Against  such  an  unnecessary  and  dangerous 
increase  in  the  power  of  majorities,  educated  men 
may  be  called  on  to  contend  with  all  the  arguments 
derived  from  experience  and  the  scientific  study  of 
the  laws  of  political  economy. 

The  struggles  between  capital  and  labor  can  be 
moderated  by  a  wise  study  of  the  past.  The  abso- 
lute necessity  of  capital  to  labor  and  of  labor  to 
capital  is  obvious  to  any  student.  Neither  can 
obtain  a  permanent  victory  over  the  other.  Their 
wars  are  like  other  civil  wars.  They  bring  ruin  to 
both  sides,  and,  if  widespread,  the  greatest  loss  to 
their  common  country. 

It  is  impossible  to  devise  any  specific  which  shall 
prevent  employers  and  their  employees  from  dis- 
agreeing, but  these  disagreements  will  become  less 
frequent  and  less  serious,  if  both  sides  can  learn  the 
lessons  of  history  in  reference  to  labor  contests. 

There  is  no  end  to  the  work  which  thoroughly 
educated  men  are  called  upon  to  do  in  guiding 
aright  public  affairs.  Occasions  for  the  exercise  of 
their  influence  are  constantly  occurring. 

Municipal  corruption  must  be  met  by  showing 
the  results  of  such  corruption  in  the  cities  of  the 
past.  And  where  in  any  cities  such  corruption  has 
been  resisted  and  overthrown ,  the  means  used  must 


78  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

be  studied  and  imitated.  The  dangers  of  unscrupu- 
lous leadership  stand  out  in  vivid  colors  in  the 
histories  of  Rome  and  Athens.  We  must  be  warned 
by  their  example  if  we  would  not  follow  it. 

May  the  next  centennial  of  our  University  show 
that  our  people  have  learned  to  choose  men, 
intrusted  with  political  power,  for  their  merits,  and 
not  as  now  sometimes  occurs,  for  their  unscrupu- 
lous self-advocacy. 


THE    RELATION    OF    COLLEGE    EDUCA- 
TION TO  BUSINESS  PURSUITS 


BY  JOHN    H.    CONVERSE,    LL.  D.,  1861 


The  relation  of  the  University  to  business  is  a 
topic  which  has  come  to  the  front  only  in  recent 
years.  The  time  was  when  educators  would  have 
scouted  the  :  idea  of  adapting  a  university  curricu- 
lum to  the  requirements  of  a  business  career.  The 
marked  change  which  has  come  about  has  been, 
chiefly,  in  the  last  half-century.  One  indication  of 
the  new  departure  was  in  the  establishment  of 
technical  Engineering  and  Agricultural  schools. 
Another  was  in  the  rise  and  development  of  Busi- 
ness Colleges  which  can  now  be  found  in  all  our 
cities  and  towns.  All  these  classes  of  institutions 
have  been  a  silent  protest  against  the  lack  of  re- 
cognition of  business  needs  in  the  great  swirling 
torrent  of  modern  social  life.  The  final  step  has 
been  the  incorporation  into  the  curriculum  of  the 
university  itself,  of  special  or  elective  courses  yield- 
ing a  training  for  the  conduct  of  affairs  in  com- 
merce, in  manufactures,  in  politics,  and  in  other 
branches  of  industry. 


80  UNIVERSITY     OF     VERMONT 

We  may  now  ask  the  question:  Has  this  adapta- 
tion or  diversion  of  educational  methods  to  meet  the 
demands  of  business  been  justifiable? 

At  the  outset  it  is  necessary  to  define  what  we 
mean  by  "business."  The  term  has  a  much  broader 
significance  now  than  it  had  250  years  ago,  or  200 
years  ago,  when  the  first  American  colleges  were 
founded.  Then  it  meant  almost  exclusively  the 
retail  sale  of  commodities.  The  transactions  in- 
volved were  of  the  simplest  character.  Barter,  the 
exchange  of  one  article  for  another,  constituted  the 
main  function.  Finance,  as  a  science,  was  not 
involved.  There  was  confessedly  little  room  for 
eminent  intellectual  qualifications.  There  were  no 
manufactures  worthy  of  the  name  in  this  country 
prior  to  the  Revolution.  The  English  policy  was 
to  maintain  its  manufactures  at  home  and  to  use 
its  Colonies  as  consumers,  receiving  in  exchange 
the  products  of  the  soil  and  the  ocean. 

There  were  no  inland  transportation  problems  of 
importance.  The  pack  horse  or  the  Conestoga 
wagon  was  the  sum  of  this  interest. 

There  was  little  or  no  commercial  finance.  Banks 
were  few  and  inadequate  for  private  enterprise. 
Legislatures  were  slow  to  grant  charters.  Banks 
were  regarded  rather  as  monopolies  than  as  aids  to 
business  efforts.  The  legislature  of  Pennsylvania 
demanded  a  payment  of  $135,000  in  consideration 
of  the  grant  of  a  charter  in  1804  to  the  Philadelphia 
Bank. 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  81 

Insurance  as  a  business  was  unknown,  except  as 
to  marine  risks.  Life  insurance,  based  as  it  is  on 
scientific  data,  had  not  been  evolved,  and  fire  insur- 
ance was  developed  only  toward  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Such  were  the  conditions  when  the  original 
American  colleges  were  founded.  Small  wonder 
that  they  did  not  recognize  business  pursuits, 
limited  and  simple  as  they  then  were,  as  fitting 
careers  for  their  beneficiaries.  On  the  contrary, 
their  avowed  object  at  the  first  was  chiefly  the 
training  of  men  for  the  Christian  ministry.  The 
purpose  of  the  founding  of  Harvard  was  stated  to  be 
' '  in  order  that  the  Church  might  have  able  pastors, 
and  that  learning  might  not  be  buried  in  the  graves 
of  the  Fathers." 

Yale  was  founded  in  1701  by  a  number  of  Con- 
necticut ministers.  The  object  set  forth  in  the 
charter  was  ' '  that  youth  may  be  instructed  in  the 
arts  and  sciences,  who  through  the  blessing  of 
Almighty  God  may  be  fitted  for  further  employment 
both  in  Church  and  civil  state." 

In  contrast  with  the  conditions  originally  pre- 
vailing, we  may  attempt  to  indicate  what  is  included 
in  the  term  ' 'business' '  to-day.  Its  significance  has 
been  greatly  enlarged.  It  covers  a  vast  range  of 
processes  and  industries.  It  affords  opportunities 
to  utilize  nearly  every  branch  of  learning  included 
in  a  university  curriculum.  A  single  pursuit  may 
call  in  play  qualifications  most  diverse. 

6 


82  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Perhaps  the  leading  pursuits  which  are  covered 
by  the  general  title  ' '  business  ' '  at  this  time   are  : 

Mercantile  transactions,  wholesale  and  retail. 

The  importation  and  exportation  of  commodities. 

Transportation  by  railroad,  by  vessel,  and  other- 
wise. 

Insurance — fire,  marine  and  life. 

Mines. 

Manufactures. 

Agriculture. 

Finance. 

What  then,  we  may  inquire,  are  the  features  of 
some  of  these  varied  vocations  which  may  afford 
fitting  fields  for  the  abilities  of  college  graduates  ? 

As  to  Mercantile  transactions  :  Their  scope  to- 
day is  much  broader  than  the  mere  sale  of  commodi- 
ties. Stocks  of  goods  are  purchased  in  the  markets 
of  the  world.  Foreign  countries  must  contribute. 
Familiarity  with  the  products  and  the  processes  of 
other  lands  is  necessary.  A  knowledge  of  other 
languages  is  essential.  Physical  geography  is  an 
element.  The  details  of  manufacturing  processes 
are  involved.  The  buyer,  possessing  these  quali- 
fications, is  even  more  important  than  the  seller. 
Then  over  all,  or  co-ordinating  with  all,  is  the 
executive  management,  involving  ability  in  organ- 
ization and  conduct,  in  finance,  in  importing,  in 
shipping  and  in  transportation.  A  business  like 
Mr.  Wanamaker's,  for  example,  has  5,068  sales- 
people, and  6,243  employees  other  than  salespeople, 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  83 

such  as  buyers,  managers,  clerks,  accountants,  etc., 
who  are  seldom  visible  to  the  ordinary  customer. 

Closely  related  to  trade  is  Transportation.  This 
with  its  movement  of  merchandise  and  passengers, 
has  come  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  interests  of 
modern  times.  Independent  of  water  carriage,  the 
matter  of  land  transportation  by  railways  has 
become  in  this  century,  one  of  the  largest  indus- 
tries. The  Unites  States  has  now  over  200,000 
miles  of  steam  railways,  and  over  30,000  miles  of 
electric  lines.  It  is  a  fair  estimate  that  these  give 
employment  to  nearly  1,500,000  operatives,  and 
they  in  turn  represent  7,500,000  men,  women  and 
children,  or  one-tenth  of  our  population.  In 
the  conduct  of  this  vast  interest,  a  large  variety 
of  ability  is  demanded.  Mechanical  knowledge, 
engineering  skill,  scientific  attainments,  familiarity 
with  agricultural  and  mineralogical  conditions, 
executive  force  and  financial  ability  of  a  high  order, 
— all  are  required  in  the  various  functions  of  a 
successful  railroad  man. 

In  fact,  in  the  head  of  any  great  railroad  system, 
a  combination  of  many,  if  not  all  of  these  acquire- 
ments, is  invaluable.  Hence  you  will  find  in  many 
cases  that  one  who  has  the  advantages  of  such  a 
liberal  education  as  an  engineering  or  a  professional 
course  supplies,  is  naturally  most  competent  for  the 
leadership  of  these  vast  enterprises.  Mr.  Cassatt 
is  a  civil  engineer  by  profession  ;  Mr.  Baer,  a 
lawyer. 


84  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

Another  branch  of  business  which  has  grown  to 
large  magnitude  in  modern  times  is  Insurance. 
This  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin.  The 
method  and  plans  of  university  education  were 
formulated  more  than  100  years  before  the  begin- 
ning of  this  interest.  The  first  office  for  fire 
insurance  in  the  United  States  was  opened  in 
Philadelphia  in  1752.  Today  there  are  in  our 
country  thousands  of  companies  and  agencies. 

Another  branch  of  the  business,  viz.,  Life  Insur- 
ance, is  of  more  recent  growth.  The  Pennsylvania 
Company  for  insurance  on  lives  and  granting 
annuities  was  incorporated  in  1812,  and  was  followed 
by  other  corporations  having  similar  objects;  but  the 
great  business  of  life  insurance  as  we  now  know  it 
may  be  said  to  be  only  a  little  over  fifty  years  old. 
In  1843  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of 
New  York  and  the  New  England  Life  Insurance 
Company  began  business.  To-day  the  number  of 
companies  has  greatly  increased  and  the  capital 
involved  is  immense.  At  the  close  of  1901  the 
assets  of  the  various  United  States  companies  had 
reached  the  enormous  aggregate  of  $1,879,624,564; 
with  $7,500,000,000  in  risks  out.  The  assets  of  a 
single  leading  United  States  company,  as  last  re- 
ported, approximated  $350,000,000.  The  business  of 
life  insurance,  therefore,  involves  the  custody  and 
maintenance  of  this  enormous  capital.  Investments 
must  be  found  for  this  vast  sum  of  money.  Business 
ability  of  a  high  order  and  of  varied  character  is 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  85 

required  to  pass  upon  the  merits  of  the  enterprises 
of  all  descriptions  in  which  funds  must  be  put  to 
insure  their  safe  preservation  and  liberal  yield  of 
income.  Most  of  us  perhaps  have  derived  our  ideas 
of  life  insurance  from  the  irrepressible  solicitor  who 
makes  life  a  burden  to  us  until  we  have  taken  a 
policy.  But  this  is  only  an  incident  and  a  small 
part  of  what  is  involved  in  this  vast  interest. 

Included  in  the  realm  of  business  is  the  enormous 
interest  of  Manufactures.  To  this  we  may  give 
supreme  position.  It  is  the  creation  out  of  the  raw 
material  of  nature, of  articles  for  the  comfort, conven- 
ience and  happiness  of  mankind.  If  the  old  saying 
be  true,  that  he  is  a  benefactor  of  the  race  who 
makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew 
before,  much  more  is  it  true  that  he  merits  the 
highest  place  among  his  fellows  who  transforms  the 
crude  substances  of  the  earth  into  the  finished  pro- 
duct which  makes  for  human  welfare,  and  which 
differentiates  civilized  man  from  the  savage.  In 
the  processes  involved  there  is  room  for  ability  and 
knowledge  the  most  varied  and  extensive.  The 
command  of  man  over  nature  elevates  him  to  a 
godlike  position. 

America  has  now  taken  a  leading  place  among 
the  manufacturing  nations  of  the  earth.  In  the 
variety  and  quality  of  products  we  are  unsurpassed. 
Our  textiles  find  a  market  in  every  land.  Our 
agricultural  machinery  harvests  the  crops  on  the 
plains  of    Australia    and    the    steppes    of    Russia. 


86  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

Our  typewriters  and  sewing  machines  are  manipu- 
lated by  operators  of  every  color  and  language. 
Our  locomotives  cross  the  deserts  of  Africa,  convey 
the  tourist  to  the  holy  city  of  Jerusalem,  astonish 
the  teeming  millions  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom,  and 
transport  armies  across  the  Siberian  wilderness  to 
the  coming  conflict  in  the  Far  Hast. 

The  value  of  the  exports  of  manufactured  articles 
from  us  has  risen  to  nearly  $450,000,000  annually. 

I  need  only  enumerate  a  few  other  pursuits  which 
may  be  classed  under  the  general  head  of  business, 
such  as  Shipping,  Banking,  Mining,  and  Agricul- 
ture, to  suggest  the  variety  of  opportunities  and  the 
opening  for  the  attainments  of  the  college  graduate. 

With  so  vast  a  field  of  opportunity  and  pursuits 
of  so  varied  character  open  to  him,  is  an  apology 
necessary  for  the  entry  therein  of  the  college 
graduate  ?  Is  it  not  rather  justly  required  of  him 
that  he  should  take  account  of  his  qualifications 
and  assure  himself  that  he  is  fitted  for  any  particu- 
lar pursuit  in  the  great  empire  of  business  ? 

What  then  does  a  college  education  do  for  a  man 
in  qualifying  him  to  take  part  in  the  struggle  for 
success  in  a  business  career?  And  what  is  lacking 
in  the  equipment  which  the  college  training  yields  ? 

To  the  first  question  the  answer  may  be  given, 
that  the  training  which  a  man  gets  in  college  is 
valuable  for  any  pursuit.  The  ability  to  reason 
accurately  and  logically  will  count  in  business  as 
well  as  in  a  profession.     In  general  a  broad  culture 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  87 

will  be  effective  in  enabling  a  man  to  have  such  a 
command  of  his  faculties  as  will  insure  their  use  to 
the  best  advantage. 

In  the  next  place,  it  is  a  fact  that  almost  every- 
thing which  one  learns  in  college  may  be  made 
useful,  even  in  a  business  career.  The  require- 
ments are  so  varied  and  the  duties  so  extensive  that 
nothing  comes  amiss.  Obviously  this  is  especially 
true  of  the  mathematics,  the  natural  sciences,  his- 
tory and  literature  ;  and  it  is  also  true,  to  some 
extent,  even  of  the  languages.  Of  course,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  modern  languages  is  directly  available, 
but  some  knowledge  of  the  dead  languages  will 
often  be  found  useful.  A  business  man  may  have 
to  compose  not  only  letters,  but  statements,  reports, 
and  other  documents,  involving  ability  in  the 
proper  use  of  English.  A  good  style  and  an  effect- 
ive command  of  words  will  be  valuable  possessions. 
It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  these  qualifications 
should  more  generally  attach  to  the  college  graduate 
than  they  do.  It  is  also  much  to  be  desired  that 
there  should  be  no  criticism  of  a  qualification  so 
simple  as  correct  spelling.  Unfortunately  it  is  not 
always  possible  to  predicate  perfection  on  these 
points  for  the  college  man.  All  these  qualifications, 
making  for  excellence  in  composition,  will  count, 
and  will  impress  the  public.  It  is  expected  of  the 
graduate  that  he  shall  be,  like  Caesar's  wife,  "above 
suspicion"  in  these  respects,  and  it  is  well  if  he 
can  justify  this  feeling. 


88  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

In  this  connection  another  accomplishment  may- 
be mentioned  which  I  fear  is  too  often  neglected  in 
the  modern  college  curriculum.  I  refer  to  public 
speaking.  The  ability  to  speak  well,  freely,  logic- 
ally, and  with  some  degree  of  grace  and  eloquence, 
counts  for  much,  even  in  mercantile  pursuits.  It 
distinguishes  a  man  and  secures  respect  and  admi- 
ration. I  realize  the  fact  that  lawyers  are  more 
frequently  found  in  public  life  than  business  men, 
and  it  may  be  largely  attributed  to  their  training 
as  public  speakers.  This  qualification  brings  them 
before  the  public,  and  there  is  nothing  which  so 
completely  compels  recognition  and  esteem.  There 
is  no  reason  why  a  business  man  with  the  gift  of 
oratory,  should  not  be,  if  otherwise  fully  educated, 
as  competent  for  public  service  or  political  office  as 
a  lawyer.  In  fact,  in  handling  most  questions  his 
qualifications  would  be  superior.  In  legislation  it 
is  often  the  solution  of  questions  of  a  business 
character  which  counts.  A  business  man,  there- 
fore, whose  training  has  qualified  him  to  grapple 
with  such  questions  and  who  can  express  himself 
logically  and  forcibly  in  maintaining  his  views,  will 
occupy  a  strong  position  in  public  life.  I  think  it 
is  a  fact  that  the  best  lawyers  are  those  who  are  also 
the  best  business  men.  Add  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
methods  and  problems  of  business  an  equally 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  law  as  applicable  thereto, 
and  you  have  the  highest  type  of  a  lawyer  in  our 
present  state  of  society.     Is  not  this  a  tacit  recog- 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  89 

uitiou  of  the  value  of  business  training  and  business 
methods  ? 

To  the  second  question,  "  What  is  lacking  in  the 
equipment  which  the  college  training  yields  ?  ' '  the 
answer  must  be  given  that  very  little  except  the 
general  culture  is  produced.  Training  for  any 
specific  pursuit  is  not  included  in  the  usual  curric- 
ulum. The  college  does  not  consider  it  within  its 
province  to  teach  book-keeping,  stenography,  type- 
writing, or  even  penmanship  and  spelling.  These 
are  usually  left  to  the  business  college.  The 
graduate  is  without  any  specific  qualifications  for 
beginning  a  business  career.  In  almost  every 
business  one  of  three  things  is  required  for  a 
beginner.  First,  bookkeeping,  if  for  the  accounting 
department  ;  second,  stenography  and  typewriting 
or  penmanship,  if  for  the  general  or  correspondence 
department  ;  and  third,  special  talent  for  the  sales 
department.  This  is  the  trinity  of  business  require- 
ments for  the  beginner.  The  college  course  does 
not  give  any  one  of  them .  The  value  of  these  is  in 
gaining  a  foothold  in  business  and  not  in  filling  any 
one  of  them  for  life.  The  young  man  beginning 
as  a  bookkeeper  or  stenographer  achieves  a  con- 
nection with  business  and  gains  knowledge  of  the 
business.  Other  faculties  will  come  into  play  and 
promotion  to  more  important  services  will  follow. 
In  this  way  many  men  conspicuous  for  executive 
ability  have  begun  their  careers.  It  would  be  well 
if  every  college  man  had  these  qualifications,  if  he 


90  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

contemplates  a  business  career  ;  as  they  are  not 
given  in  a  college  course,  he  must  acquire  them 
elsewhere.  One  of  the  secretaries  in  President 
Roosevelt's  cabinet  began  his  career  as  a  sten- 
ographer. He  has  now  the  portfolio  of  Commerce 
and  Labor.  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  began  his 
career  as  a  telegraph  operator  and  railroad  clerk, 
and  the  way  was  open  for  his  attaining  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  greatest  steel  magnate  of  America.  The 
problem  is  to  find  an  opening ;  and  no  matter  how 
excellent  the  natural  abilities  of  a  young  man  may 
be,  it  is  difficult  for  him  to  get  the  opportunity  to 
exercise  his  abilities  unless  he  can  make  himself 
useful  in  a  business  to  do  some  specific  thing,  as  I 
have  mentioned. 

In  discussing  prospects  and  advantages  in  busi- 
ness for  the  college  man  of  today,  I  recognize  that 
the  college  course  has  little  reference  to  business 
requirements.  In  my  judgment,  this  is  to  be 
regretted.  I  believe  a  course  should  be  followed 
which  would  ensure  not  only  general  culture,  but 
training  for  a  specific  pursuit.  Some  American 
colleges  today  recognize  this  fact,  and  some  have 
adopted  a  course  on  the  following  general  plan  : 

Let  the  curriculum  for  the  first  two  or  three 
years  be  the  same  as  the  course  of  Arts  and  leading 
to  the  Bachelor's  degree ;  then  follow  with  an 
elective  course  of  two  years,  or  more  if  necessary, 
giving  a  training  for  the  profession  or  vocation  in 
view. 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  91 

If  the  choice  is  a  business  career,  the  two  years 
of  elective  studies  should  include  such  subjects  as 
the  mathematics,  the  natural  sciences,  history,  com- 
mercial law,  the  modern  languages,  and  incidentally, 
such  practical  subjects  as  bookkeeping,  stenog- 
raphy, etc.  Such  a  combined  course  as  this  would 
in  no  wise  detract  from  the  dignity  of  the  course  in 
Arts,  but  would  supplement  that  course  and  give 
the  graduate  an  equipment  qualifying  him  for  a 
business  career. 

The  original  university  curriculum  was  calculated 
as  a  training  for  the  ministry,  and  from  the  begin- 
ning a  training  for  the  law,  medicine  and  engineer- 
ing has  required  a  supplemental  course.  It  would  be 
only  logical  that  a  training  for  a  business  career 
should  be  afforded  in  the  same  manner  and  should 
be  built  on  the  solid  foundation  of  the  broad  culture 
which  is  afforded  by  the  course  in  Arts.  I  am  loath 
to  abate  one  iota  of  the  advantages  and  prestige  of 
the  usual  college  course.  Let  us  concede  all  the 
advantages  of  the  broad  culture  which  that  course 
implies,  but  let  us  add  to  it  the  special  training 
which  makes  for  success  in  practical  affairs  and  for 
useful  citizenship. 

There  has  been  a  great  change  of  opinion  and 
custom  as  to  college  education  for  business.  The 
development  of  the  material  resources  of  the  country, 
the  institution  of  various  departments  of  effort  and 
enterprise  which  were  unknown  when  our  colleges 
were    planned,   have   brought   about  this   change. 


92  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

Not  only  is  the  business  career  more  attractive,  but 
it  is  more  necessary.  The  brief  survey  of  occupa- 
tions which  I  gave  at  the  outset,  as  included  in  the 
realm  of  business,  sufficiently  indicates  this  fact. 
We  must  remember  that  when  our  colleges  were 
first  planned  our  urban  population  was  small. 
Business  was  then  largely  confined  to  retail  opera- 
tions. The  country  store,  where  the  farmer 
exchanged  his  eggs  for  molasses  or  calico  or  cod- 
fish, was  the  prevailing  type.  Today  nearly  one- 
third  of  our  population  is  in  cities  each  of  over 
25,000  inhabitants. 

Mercantile  business  has  been  expanded  and 
wholesale  operations  of  vast  proportion  are  the  rule. 
Manufactures  which  were  unknown  in  America  are 
now  prevailing  interests  throughout  the  country. 
The  United  States  has  become  a  manufacturing 
nation.  Our  exports  of  manufactured  articles  in 
recent  years  have  neared  the  mark  of  value  of 
$1,500,000  per  working  day.  Scientific  mining, 
insurance,  shipping,  transportation, — all  these  pre- 
sent inviting  fields  for  young  men  of  ability  and 
training. 

Recognition  of  this  fact  is  found  in  some  of  the 
college  statistics.  In  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  percentage  of  Yale  graduates  in  Busi- 
ness, as  distinguished  from  the  four  professions  of 
Theology,  Law,  Medicine,  and  Teaching, was  11  4-9. 
In  the  second  half  of  the  century,  the  percentage 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE'S  ADDRESS  93 

had  risen  to  23  6-9.     The  following  comments  on 
these  figures  are  from  the  Yale  Review: 

1  'The  most  striking  fact  brought  to  light  by  the 
table  is  the  great  increase  in  the  graduates  of  the 
college  pursuing  a  mercantile  career.  The  propor- 
tion of  business  men  in  the  first  twenty  classes  of 
this  century  was  temporarily  high, — perhaps  owing 
to  the  stimulus  of  the  foreign  wars  and  of  our  war 
of  1812,  and  of  its  after  effects.  Then  the  fraction 
fell  to  a  low  level  in  the  twenties  and  early  thir- 
ties. Beginning  with  the  class  of  1839,  the  fraction 
rose  steadily  with  practically  no  set-back  until  the 
present  time,  rising  most  rapidly  in  the  case  of 
those  graduating  in  the  late  forties,  during  the 
Civil  War  and  during  the  seventies.  From  gener- 
ally occupying  the  fourth  place  in  importance 
among  the  occupations  of  graduates,  business  rose 
to  the  third  place  with  the  class  of  1842,  to  the  second 
place  during  the  Civil  War,  and  will,  presumably, 
wrest  the  first  place  from  the  legal  profession. 

The  general  outcome  of  the  movement,  as  indi- 
cated in  the  table,  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 
The  law  during  the  past  century  has  fairly  uniformly 
enlisted  one-third  of  each  college  generation.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  century  the  ministry  followed 
closely  in  second  place.  Roughly  speaking,  the 
law  and  the  ministry  were  then  chosen  by  two-thirds 
of  the  class.  Nowadays,  the  law  still  holds  its  own, 
but  the  ministry  has  fallen  off  greatly  iu  relative 
importance  ;  its  place  has  been  taken  by  the  mer- 
chant's vocation,  which  now  attracts  about  one -third 
of  the  graduates.  It  is  noticeable  that  in  the  course 
of  the  last  eighty  years  covered  by  the  table  the  sum 
of  the  figures  for  the  ministry  and  of  those  for  busi- 
ness, in  each  five-year  period,  fluctuates  fairly 
closely  about  37  per  cent ;  and  that,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  a  rapid  fall  in  the  figure  for  the  ministry 


m  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

goes  hand  in  hand  with  a  rapid  rise  in  the  figure 
for  business,  and  when  the  falling  off  in  the 
ministry  is  retarded,  the  same  is  true  of  the  rise  of 
the  figure  for  the  business  men.  It  would  not  be 
safe  to  conclude  from  this  that  the  kind  of  men  who 
formerly  became  clergymen  now  go  into  business, 
though  this  may  be  true  to  some  extent.  In  any 
case,  it  is  clear  that  the  leadership  which  naturally 
falls  to  the  college  graduate  in  this  country  was 
formerly  chiefly  exerted  from  the  bar  and  the  pulpit; 
that  nowadays,  however,  the  industrial  leaders  are 
also  largely  recruited  from  among  college  graduates  ; 
and  that  the  typical  college  graduate  of  today  is  no 
longer  the  scholar,  but  the  man  of  affairs." 

My  conclusion  is  that  the  vast  field  of  business 
not  only  offers  possibilities  to  college  men,  unsur- 
passed by  those  of  any  other  pursuit,  but  that 
opportunity  is  given  for  the  use  of  all  the  acquire- 
ments that  the  university  curriculum  imparts.  It 
is  no  longer  necessary  to  apologize  for  the  college 
man's  entering  business.  He  will  find  a  demand,  not 
only  for  all  that  the  college  course  has  imparted,  but 
will  confront  the  necessity  of  further  special  train- 
ing. His  usefulness  as  a  citizen  will  be  one  of  the 
results ;  and  in  this  respect  his  opportunities  will 
be  fully  equal  to  those  afforded  by  the  professions, 
the  ministry  alone  excepted. 


THE    RELATION    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY 
TO   PRACTICAL  SOCIOLOGY 


BY    DAVIS    R.    DEWEY,    PH.  D.,     1879 


Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

In  presenting  my  contribution  to  the  conference 
we  are  holding  today  concerning  the  relations  of  the 
university  to  the  different  fields  of  human  thought 
and  activity,  I  hope  that  I  may  not  introduce  a 
depressing  note  into  this  anniversary  occasion  which 
should  be  so  full  of  joy.  From  an  abstract  point 
of  view  the  study  of  social  diseases  is  not  a  pleasant 
pursuit ;  some  indeed  take  a  morbid  pleasure  in  the 
observation  of  unhealthy  social  conditions,  find 
spontaneous  joy  in  charity  conferences,  walk  amid 
the  slums  with  a  holy  ecstacy,  and  are  thrilled  by 
the  conflicts  of  a  labor  war.  The  true  reformer, 
however,  is  not  so  buoyant.  Law,  philosophy, 
literature,  science,  can  each  sing  a  beautiful  song, 
while  the  sociologist  disagreeably  elbows  his  way 
to  the  front  row  to  make  his  grumbling  more 
audible. 

I  do  not  know  how  to  define  my  subject  exactly 
in  a  single  term  which  will  leave  no  misunderstand- 


96  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

ing.  The  theme  does  not  exclusively  concern  politi- 
cal science,  or  political  economy,  or  ethics.  It  is 
a  mixture  of  all  these.  Possibly  the  relation  of 
the  university  to  practical  sociology  may  cover  the 
thought.  At  any  rate  let  us  hope  that  the  defini- 
tion will  be  disclosed  in  the  explanation. 

Human  relationships  appear  in  various  forms, 
having  for  their  objects  various  social  ends  which 
will  enable  men  to  live  together  in  some  sort  of 
harmony  and  enjoyment.  In  the  development  of 
these  relationships,  society  has  passed  through  a 
good  deal  of  experimentation  and  has  been  con- 
stantly adding  to  its  equipment,  until  now  the  social 
mechanism  is  so  elaborate,  complex  and  delicate  in 
its  adjustments  that  we  are  bewildered  when  we 
attempt  to  separate  the  various  forces.  In  the 
earliest  centuries  mankind  was  occupied  in  laying 
hold  of  the  primary  rules  of  personal  conduct  which 
make  society  possible.  Honesty,  good  faith,  filial 
respect,  a  reasonable  amount  of  consideration  for 
the  rights  of  others,  and  other  similar  family  vir- 
tues were  absolutely  necessary  for  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  any  sort  of  social  relationship. 
As  far  as  the  relationships  of  men  were  concerned, 
human  thought,  learning,  and  speculation  were 
first  devoted  to  religion  and  ethics. 

When  society  had  got  so  far  that  men  could  live 
together  with  some  measure  of  decent  respect  for 
each  other,  they  began  to  be  interested  in  another 
set  of  relationships,  those  which  are  concerned  with 


DAVIS    R.    DEWEY'S    ADDRESS  97 

their  political  organization  ;  they  speculated  in 
regard  to  the  privileges  and  duties  of  subject  and 
ruler.  How  shall  the  state  be  supported  ?  What 
is  the  best  form  of  state  ?  To  ns  these  questions 
now  seem  quite  elementary,  but  again  it  required 
centuries  of  discussion  and  adjustment  to  put  this 
set  of  human  relationships  into  good  running  order. 
Society  had  no  sooner  geared  up  this  new  politi- 
cal mechanism  so  that  it  ran  smoothly,  than  she 
turned  her  attention  to  still  another  series  of  rela- 
tionships. It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  in 
the  very  year,  1776,  which  witnessed  the  successful 
establishment  of  new  political  machinery  in  the  life 
of  the  American  people,  a  great  philosopher  and 
eminent  university  professor,  Adam  Smith,  gave 
academic  notice  to  the  world  that  new  problems 
faced  society .  In  his  work  on  the  causes  of  the  Wealth 
of  Nations,  he  devoted  his  profound  intellect  to  the 
analysis  of  the  forces  by  which  men  can  produce 
wealth  in  abundance  and  distribute  it  with  equity. 
This  important  contribution  also  coincided  with  the 
beginnings  of  revolutionary  changes  in  industry  ; 
and  from  that  time  to  the  present  it  is  not  too  much 
to  claim  that  the  vital  questions  which  concern 
society  have  centered  around  men  in  their  economic 
relationships.  The  subject  of  political  economy  has 
gained  many  followers ;  it  has  won  worthy  recog- 
nition in  our  universities,  and  has  become  an 
indispensable  part  of  a  liberal  education.    Much  has 

7 


<>8  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

been  expected  of  this  new  recruit  in  the  army  of 
learning  and  not  in  vain.  Its  conquests  have  been 
large  and  it  has  done  an  important  service  for  right 
living  and  sane  legislation. 

Political  economy  was  at  first  interested  in  prob- 
lems of  wealth  production,  by  means  of  which  our 
wants  may  be  generously  satisfied  ;  in  the  measure- 
ment of  the  standard  of  value  ;  and  more  recently, 
in  the  laws  which  determine  the  distribution  of  the 
wealth  produced.  But  curiously  enough,  with  all 
the  truth  which  this  new  science  has  discovered, 
the  perplexity  of  life  has  seemed  to  increase  rather 
than  to  lessen.  We  have  learned  the  primary  rules 
of  personal  conduct ;  we  think  we  have  discovered 
the  structure  of  the  best  state  ;  we  know  something 
of  the  conditions  which  determine  the  satisfaction 
of  man's  material  wants;  and  yet  we  find  that  social 
happiness  is  not  attained.  Something  still  is  want- 
ing, and  it  is  here  that  the  newer  task  of  the 
university  is  to  be  found.  We  have  not  yet  learned 
how  to  adjust  our  industrial  or  economic  relation- 
ships, which  the  new  science  and  the  great  physical 
changes  in  the  industrial  world  during  the  past 
century  have  produced.  We  do  not  yet  understand 
the  trick  of  adjusting  and  managing  the  mechanism 
which  has  been  placed  at  our  disposal.  We  have 
the  engine  and  drive-wheel  in  place,  but  the  cogs 
do  not  fit,  the  belting  slips,  the  connecting  rod 
breaks,  and  there  is  interminable  loss  and  ruin. 


DAVIS    R.    DEWEY'S    ADDRESS  99 

I  do  not  pretend  to  tell  what  the  fundamental 
trouble  is.  Reformer  after  reformer  thinks  he  has 
discovered  the  weak  point  and  consequently  has 
boldly  announced  a  remedy.  In  the  Inferno  of 
Dante  the  spirit  shades  who  dwell  in  the  successive 
circles  are  separated  according  to  their  kinds.  The 
nether  world  is  partitioned  off  into  halls  and  castles 
of  sin  and  misery.  Here  are  the  irreligious,  ignorant 
of  their  god  ;  here  the  immoral,  carnal  sinners 
swayed  by  lust ;  near  by,  the  souls  of  those  whom 
anger  overcame ;  and  far  beyond,  divided  by  an 
awful  chasm,  are  the  evil  counselors  of  states, 
traitors  and  falsifiers.  We  thus  find  the  immoral 
and  ignorant,  the  bad  politicians,  the  selfish,  are 
treated  in  sections  and  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of 
their  visitor,  each  in  his  own  well  defined,  appro- 
priate place.  In  the  upper  world  there  is  no  such 
simplicity.  The  irreligious,  the  evil  counselors  of 
state,  and  the  self-seekers  cross  and  recross,  inter- 
mingle and  jostle,  until  the  warp  and  woof  of  society 
is  in  a  sorry  snarl  and  no  man  can  disentangle  the 
knot.  The  problem  is  greater  than  the  genius  of 
any  one  intellect,  and  can  be  solved  only  by  the 
university  of  learning. 

Classes  in  this  country  are  not  founded  on  birth 
or  ancestral  privilege,  and  yet  we  have  classes. 
The  lines  of  demarcation  may  not  be  as  sharply  and 
enduringly  drawn  as  under  the  older  forms  of  class 
differentiation,  but  the  difference  between  the 
employer  and  the  employee  ;  the  difference  between 


100  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

the  rich  who  live  on  an  income  and  the  poor  who 
subsist  on  wages,  or  charity  ;  the  difference  between 
Americans  of  English  or  Teutonic  descent  and  the 
immigrants  from  southern  Europe,  who  even  among 
themselves  inherit  modes  of  life  and  traditions  of 
thought  widely  separated  from  each  other; — all 
these  differences  are  real  ones  which  cannot  be 
smoothed  over  by  chanting  praises  to  free  oppor- 
tunity or  by  shallow  talk  of  equality.  There  is 
free  shifting  from  class  to  class,  but  the  fact  that 
the  traveller  may  freely  cross  from  the  sand  desert 
to  the  fertile  prairie,  does  not  destroy  the  existence 
of  the  desert.  Economic  class  cleavages  are  as  real 
in  their  way  as  those  determined  by  birth  or  by 
government. 

What  is  a  class?  Is  it  not  a  group  of  people 
marked  by  habits  and  customs  of  its  own,  charac- 
terized by  a  very  definite  and  distinct  standard, 
living  and  thinking  a  philosophy  which  has  been 
crudely  developed  from  its  own  narrow  experience  ? 
The  organization  of  industry  as  it  exists  in  large 
sections  of  this  country  has  separated  the  real 
owner  and  employer  of  capital  long  distances  from 
contact  with  his  workman  ;  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  modern  city,  with  its  districts  devoted  to  fashion 
and  to  slum,  has  put  miles  of  space  between  the  rich 
and  the  poor ;  the  strange  speech  of  immigrants, 
unknown  to  our  geography,  has  made  us  helpless  in 
our  intercourse.  No  wonder  that  we  are  burdened 
with  problems  without  number,  so  that  it  is^  well- 


DAVIS    R.    DEWEY'S    ADDRESS  101 

nigh  impossible  to  keep  track  of  our  subscriptions 
to  societies  which  have  been  created  for  their  indi- 
vidual treatment. 

Nor  can  we  expect  to  get  rid  of  these  class  cleav- 
ages, unless  we  propose  to  destroy  the  forces  which 
are  producing  them.  As  long  as  we  permit  immi- 
gration we  must  expect  the  Italian  quarter,  the 
Polish  quarter,  the  Greek  quarter,  and  the  Syrian 
quarter.  As  long  as  industry  is  organized  on  the 
principle  of  contract  between  two  persons,  the  one  a 
buyer  of  labor  and  the  other  a  seller  of  labor ;  and 
as  long  as  capital  and  labor  are  massed  with  ponder- 
ous weight  into  great  individual  enterprises  in  order 
to  secure  maximum  efficiency,  we  shall  have  a  labor 
problem  with  classes  of  employers  and  classes  of 
laborers.  As  long  as  some  men  are  more  richly 
endowed  or  better  trained  than  others  in  the  pro- 
duction of  wealth  or  in  bargaining  with  their  fellow 
men,  so  long  we  shall  have  the  rich  and  the  poor. 
As  long  as  we  permit  cities  to  grow,  creating  the 
need  of  new  standards  of  conduct  which  many  in 
their  ignorance  or  degradation  cannot  reach,  so  long 
we  shall  have  the  problems  of  city  life,  crime, 
charity,  and  the  saving  of  children. 

If  the  existence  of  class  cleavages  is  admitted, 
and  if  it  be  also  admitted  that  these  are  likely  to 
multiply  under  present  tendencies,  the  need  of  the 
application  of  systematic  study  and  learning  to 
their  analysis,  character  and  treatment  is  at 
once  apparent.  As  long  as  the  relationships  of  men 


102  UNIVERSITY    OF   VERMONT 

were  individual,  it  was  possible  to  rely  upon  the 
rough  and  stern  experience  of  individual  clashing 
with  individual.  There  will  be  many  failures  in 
these  adjustments,  but  there  will  also  be  many 
successes.  If  we  substitute  classes  for  individuals, 
we  reduce  the  number  of  experiments  and  multiply 
the  damage  when  a  mistake  is  made.  Manufac- 
turers at  the  present  time  are  struggling  with  the 
question  of  the  closed  shop,  or  the  exclusion  of  non- 
union labor  from  employment  alongside  of  union 
labor.  The  selfishness  of  the  workman  who  de- 
clares that  he  will  not  work  with  a  laborer  not 
belonging  to  his  organization  is  severely  denounced. 
All  this  arraignment  may  be  justified  if  it  concerns 
an  individual  case,  but  most  of  us  are  forgetting 
that  we  are  dealing  with  a  class  question.  The 
problem  will  not  be  solved  by  the  treatment  of 
individual  cases,  but  must  be  met  by  a  considera- 
tion, not  only  of  the  principles  of  true  unionism  as 
a  whole,  but  also  of  the  still  more  fundamental 
question,  the  nature  of  the  labor  contract.  Mr. 
Mitchell  in  his  recent  book  on  organized  labor 
opens  the  first  chapter  with  the  depressing  state- 
ment that  the  laborer  of  today  does  not  expect  to 
rise  out  of  his  class.  The  philosophy  of  his  book  is 
permeated  through  and  through  with  the  principle 
of  class  consciousness,  and  whatever  may  be  our 
individual  views  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of 
individual  cases  in  industrial  warfare,  little  headway 
will  be  made  in  the  settlement  of  the  general  ques- 


DAVIS    R.     DEWEY'S    ADDRESS  103 

tion  until  this  attitude  of  class  consciousness  on  the 
part  of  a  great  number  of  labor  leaders  is  clearly 
recognized. 

The  wise  administration  of  charity  in  a  large  city 
demands  the  widest  range  of  knowledge.  It  is 
more  than  a  question  of  individual  relief ;  it  in- 
volves the  study  of  race  characteristics ;  of  the 
forces  which  move  whole  villages  to  emigrate  and 
settle  within  our  territory,  and  also  of  the  capacities 
which  these  foreigners  may  possess  of  becoming 
successful  bread-winners  in  this,  their  new  home. 
The  distance  between  cause  and  effect  has  been 
immensely  lengthened  within  the  past  fifty  years. 
The  farmer  in  an  inland  town  through  which  the 
railroad  passes  hears  with  amazement  and  indig- 
nation a  train  invading  the  quiet  of  his  retreat  on 
Sunday.  He  demands  that  travel  be  suspended, 
in  his  town  at  least.  He  little  understands  the 
conditions  of  freight  and  passenger  traffic  at  the 
great  termini,  hundreds  of  miles  apart,  which  con- 
trol the  operation  of  trains  at  intermediate  points. 
His  opposition  proves  stupid  or  unavailing.  Only 
learning  can  meet  these  new  conditions.  There 
must  be  understanding  of  the  groups  before  points 
of  contact  between  them  can  be  established. 

Not  only  does  class  cleavage  make  our  under- 
standing so  much  more  difficult ;  it  also  dulls  the 
human  sympathy  which  must  enter  into  the  settle- 
ment of  all  questions  in  which  human  relationships 
are  involved.     A  high  standard  of  personal  conduct 


104  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

lias  never  been  developed  unless  social  units  are  in 
sympathy  with  lofty  precepts  ;  there  can  not  be 
a  true  democracy  unless  citizens  are  in  sympathy 
with  civic  equality ;  there  can  be  no  settlement  of 
humanitarian  questions  unless  there  be  a  united 
conviction  based  upon  sympathetic  feeling  and  trust 
in  the  reasonableness  of  the  settlement.  The  uni- 
versity is  a  school  of  sympathy.  Through  knowl- 
edge we  do  not  necessarily  become  tolerant  of  error, 
but  rather  inspired  with  the  impulse  to  remove  the 
causes  of  error. 

It  is  encouraging  to  know  that  the  university  has 
begun  to  recognize  its  new  responsibilities.  The 
number  of  courses  of  instruction  in  applied  eco- 
nomics is  increasing,  and  in  addition  to  these  there 
is  a  beginning  of  academic  teaching  in  practical 
sociology.  For  example,  in  Harvard  University 
there  is  a  course  on  the  problems  of  poor-relief,"  the 
family,  temperance,  and  various  phases  of  the 
labor  question  in  the  light  of  ethical  theory.  At 
the  University  of  Wisconsin  there  is  a  course  on 
charity  and  correction,  described  as  a  study  of  the 
dependent  class  with  special  reference  to  the  slum 
conditions  in  London,  New  York,  Chicago,  and 
Philadelphia  ;  of  the  defective  class  and  the  insti- 
tutional treatment  of  this  class  ;  of  the  delinquent 
class  and  the  causes  and  prevention  of  crime,  prison 
management  and  discipline.  Further  illustration 
of  the  influence  of  the  university  in  social  investiga- 
tion is  the  establishment  of  university  settlements, 


DAVIS    R.    DEWEY'S    ADDRESS  105 

outposts  of  investigation  and  inquiry  by  trained 
students  prepared  not  only  to  aid  the  district  in 
which  they  are  located,  but  also  to  bring  back  the 
true  analysis  of  the  social  territory  which  has  been 
surveyed. 

Our  legislatures  and  executive  departments  are 
turning  to  university-trained  men  and  experts  for 
advice  and  for  the  preparation  of  plans  of  economic 
and  sociological  inquiry. 

These  appreciations  are  encouraging,  but  when 
we  consider  that  these  problems  are  omnipresent 
and  in  one  phase  or  another  penetrate  every  section 
of  our  land,  we  must  be  at  once  convinced  that  the 
university  of  learning  must  press  forward  with  zeal 
and  vigor. 

Our  college,  Mr.  President,  has  played  no  mean 
share  in  the  great  university  of  learning.  Sympa- 
thetic and  tolerant  to  all  arts  and  sciences,  she  has 
recognized  the  importance  of  political  and  social 
science.  Although  pushed  back  into  but  a  corner 
of  this  great  continent,  this  institution  has  given 
stimulating  instruction,  which  has  helped  her 
students  to  wider  outlooks,  and  fitted  them  to  walk 
through  the  tangle  of  life,  if  not  with  complete 
wisdom,  at  least  wTith  caution  and  hope.  For  this, 
Mr.  President,  we  wish  to  thank  and  honor  you  and 
our  University. 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  AMERICAN 
NATIONAL  LIFE 


BY   JOHN    DEWEY,    PH.    D.,    1879 


It  is  today  generally  recognized  that  systems  of 
philosophy  however  abstract  in  conception  and  tech- 
nical in  exposition,  lie,  after  all,  much  nearer  the 
heart  of  social,  and  of  national,  life  than  superficially 
appears.  If  one  were  to  say  that  philosophy  is  just 
a  language,  one  would  doubtless  give  occasion  for 
rejoicing  to  those  who  already  believe  that  phi- 
losophy is  "words,  words,  words  "  ;  that  it  is  only 
an  uncouth  terminology  invented  and  used  for  the 
mystification  of  common  sense.  Yet  mathematics, 
too,  is  only  a  language.  Much,  most,  depends 
upon  what  the  language  is  of  and  about.  And, 
speaking  roundly,  philosophy  is  a  language  in 
which  the  deepest  social  problems  and  aspirations 
of  a  given  time  and  a  given  people  are  expressed  in 
intellectual  and  impersonal  symbols.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  philosophy  is  a  reflective  self- 
consciousness  of  what  first  exists  spontaneously, 
effectively,  in  the  feelings,  deeds,  ideas  of  a  people. 

Even  were  it  not  true  (as  I  believe  it  to  be  true) 
that  philosophical  problems  are  in  last  analysis  but 


JOHN    DEWEY'S   ADDRESS  107 

definitions,  objective  statements,  of  problems  which 
have  arisen  in  a  socially  important  way  in  the  life 
of  a  people  ;  it  would  still  be  trne  that  to  be  '  'under- 
stood of  men,"  to  make  its  way,  to  receive  con- 
firmation or  even  the  degree  of  attention  necessary 
for  doubt  and  discussion,  a  philosophy  has  to  be 
conceived  and  stated  in  terms  of  conditions  and 
factors  that  are  moving  generally  in  non-philosophic 
life.  It  is  not  a  futile  question  to  ask  after  the 
reciprocal  influences  of  American  national  life  and 
American  philosophy. 

It  is  reasonably  sure,  however,  that  the  answer  is 
not  to  be  sought  in  some  special  philosophic  -ism. 
We  may  discount  the  belief  current  in  Burope  that 
American  philosophy  is  bound  to  be  a  system  if  not 
of  Materialism,  at  least  of  Mechanicalism  ;  a  highly 
"positive,"  non-spiritual  type  of  thought.  We 
may  dismiss  the  idea  of  an  American  author  that 
our  philosophy  is  sure  to  be  Realism,  because  the 
Americans  are  so  essentially  a  hard-headed  people. 
Not  in  such  wholesale  and  exclusive  labels  are  we 
to  look  for  what  we  are  after,  but  rather  in  certain 
features  which  color  the  atmosphere,  and  dye  the 
spirit  of  all  our  thinking.  American  philosophy 
must  be  born  out  of  and  must  respond  to  the 
demands  of  democracy,  as  democracy  strives  to  voice 
and  to  achieve  itself  on  a  vaster  scale,  and  in  a  more 
thorough  and  final  way  than  history  has  previously 
witnessed.  And  democracy  is  something  at  once 
too  subtle  and  too  complex  and  too  aspiring  to  be 


108  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

caught    in    the    meshes  of   a    single   philosophical 
school  or  sect. 

It  is,  then,  to  the  needs  of  democracy  in  America 
that  we  turn  to  find  the  fundamental  problems  of 
philosophy;  and  to  its  tendencies,  its  working  forces, 
that  we  look  for  the  points  of  view  and  the  terms  in 
which  philosophy  will  envisage  and  solve  these 
problems.  The  relation  of  the  individual  to  the 
universal  is  one  of  the  oldest,  one  of  the  most  con- 
troverted, at  some  periods  seemingly  one  of  the 
most  barren  and  merely  metaphysical,  of  all  prob- 
lems. But  the  question  gets  a  new  force  and  a  new 
meaning  with  us.  It  is  born  again.  It  is  the 
question  of  the  possibility  and  the  validity  of  the 
way  of  life  to  which  we  have  committed  ourselves. 
To  the  individual  we  have  appealed  ;  to  the  court 
of  the  individual  we  must  go.  Is  the  individual 
capable  of  bearing  this  strain  ?  What  is  there  in 
his  make-up  that  justifies  such  dependence  ?  Is  the 
attempt  inherently  foredoomed  to  failure  because  of 
the  feebleness  and  corruptness  of  the  instrumental- 
ity and  the  instability  of  the  end  we  have  set  up? 
Such  questions  are,  indeed,  to  the  forefront  of  all 
thinking  since  the  origin  of  Protestantism  and  of 
political  and  industrial  liberty.  But  in  a  country 
which  is  externally  detached,  which  has  physically 
severed  the  ties  and  traditions  that  bind  it  to  sys- 
tems of  action  and  belief  which  give  the  individual 
a  subordinate  and  incidental,  or  else  a  merely 
transcendental  and,  as  it  were,  Pickwickian,  place 


JOHN    DEWEY'S   ADDRESS  109 

in  the  scheme  of  things,  such  questions  take  on  at 
once  a  more  vital  and  a  changed  significance. 

It  is  no  longer  primarily  a  question  of  the  logical 
individual,  but  of  the  concrete  individuality  ;  not 
of  Socrates  as  just  a  stock  example  or  sample  about 
which  discussion  may  turn,  but  of  a  living  John 
Smith,  his  wife  and  his  children  and  his  neighbors. 
If  our  civilization  is  to  be  justified  we  must  reach  a 
conception  of  the  individual  which  shows,  in  gen- 
eral and  in  detail,  the  inherently  significant  and 
worthful  place  which  the  psychical,  which  the  doubt- 
ing, hoping,  striving,  experimenting  individual 
occupies  in  the  constitution  of  reality.  We  must 
know  why  and  how  it  is  that  it  is  neither  the  way 
nor  the  end  of  the  individual  fitfully  and  imper- 
fectly to  reproduce  some  universe  of  reality  already 
externally  constituted  and  externally  complete  in 
itself,  and  set  as  a  model  for  him  to  copy  and 
conform  to.  We  must  know  it  is  his  method  and 
his  aim  to  add  to,  to  complete  and  to  perfect,  even 
in  his  faiths  and  strivings  and  errors,  a  reality 
which  he  is  needed  to  fulfill. 

If  our  civilization  is  to  be  directed,  we  must  have 
such  a  concrete  and  working  knowledge  of  the 
individual  as  will  enable  us  to  furnish  on  the  basis 
of  the  individual  himself  substitutes  for  those  modes 
of  nurture,  of  restraint  and  of  control  which  in  the 
past  have  been  supplied  from  authorizations  sup- 
posedly fixed  outside  of  and  beyond  individuality. 
It  is  no  accident  that  American  philosophy  is  even 


110  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

in  its  present  incipient  and  inchoate  style  per- 
meated with  psychological  data  and  considerations. 
This,  I  take  it,  is  not  accounted  for  by  saying  that 
the  American  mind  is  interested  more  in  positive 
observation  than  in  metaphysical  speculation,  in 
phenomena  rather  than  in  ultimate  explanations. 
It  means  that  in  some  very  true  sense  the  individual 
with  which  psychology  deals  now  is  an  ultimate ; 
and  that  henceforth  the  metaphysical  question  of 
the  nature  and  significance  of  the  individual  is 
bound  up  with  the  scientific  problem  of  his  actual 
structure  and  behavior.  Because  the  concrete  indi- 
viduality is  a  body  as  well  as  a  soul,  because  through 
his  body  he  is  in  multiple  and  complicated  relations 
of  stimulation  and  response  to  a  natural  and  social 
environment,  such  psychology,  moreover,  must 
include  the  physiological  and  the  experimental 
methods  along  with  the  more  directly  introspective. 
This  again  is  not  materialism  nor  display  of  talent 
of  mechanical  ingenuity.  It  is  a  sincere,  even 
while  subconscious,  recognition  of  the  fundamental 
ethical  importance  attaching  to  the  actual  play  of 
individuality  in  the  conditions  of  our  life. 

So  we  might  go  through,  one  by  one,  the  historic 
problems  of  philosophy  with  a  view  to  indicating 
that  American  philosophy  does  not  cut  loose  from 
the  past  to  begin  a  provincial  career  on  its  own 
account ;  nor  yet  settles  the  historic  problems  off- 
hand in  the  terms  of  some  one  philosophical  school ; 
but    that   it  has    inevitablv   to    reconceive    and    to 


JOHN    DEWEY'S   ADDRESS  111 

rebeget  them  in  the  light  of  the  demands  and  the 
ideals  contained  in  our  own  national  life-spirit. 
One  might  suggest,  for  example,  that  the  question 
of  the  relation  of  mind  and  matter  is  revised  when 
it  is  seen  as  the  abstract  form  of  the  problem  of  the 
relation  of  the  so-called  material,  that  is,  industrial 
and  economic  life,  to  the  intellectual  and  ideal  life 
of  a  democracy,  and  particularly  to  the  ethical 
demands  of  democracy  for  a  just  distribution  of 
economic  opportunity  and  economic  reward.  One 
might  even  show  how  the  entire  dualism  of  mind 
and  matter  haunting  the  footsteps  of  historic  phi- 
losophy is,  at  bottom,  a  reflex  of  a  separation  of 
want,  of  appetite,  from  reason,  from  the  ideal,  which 
in  turn  was  the  expression  of  non-democratic 
societies  in  which  the  ( '  higher  ' '  and  spiritual  life 
of  the  few  was  built  upon  and  conditioned  by  the 
"lower  "  and  economic  life  of  the  many. 

But  since  any  detailed  treatment  of  philosophic 
questions  is  not  here  in  place,  I  conclude  with  a  few 
words  upon  the  subject  of  method.  An  absence  of 
dogmatism,  of  rigidly  fixed  doctrines,  a  certain 
fluidity  and  socially  experimental  quality  must  char- 
acterize American  thought.  Philosophy  may  be 
regarded  as  primarily  either  system  or  method.  As 
system,  it  develops,  justifies  and  delivers  a  certain 
definite  body  of  doctrine.  It  is  taken  to  discover,  or 
at  least  to  guarantee,  a  more  or  less  closed  set  of 
truths  which  are  its  peculiar  and  exclusively  appro- 
priate object.     Its  worth  is  measured  by  the  finality 


112  UNIVERSITY    OF   VERMONT 

and  completeness  of  this  independent  and  exclusive 
body  of  doctrines.  Mediaeval  philosophy  is  a  typical 
example  of  what  I  mean,  but  the  idea  did  not  pass 
away  with  the  waning  of  scholasticism.  It  animates 
as  an  ideal  most  philosophic  thought  of  later  times. 
Or,  if  questioned,  it  is  questioned  only  in  the 
interests  of  scepticism.  But  there  is  also  struggling 
for  articulation  a  conception  of  philosophy  as  prim- 
arily method : — system  only  in  the  sense  of  an 
arrangement  of  problems  and  ideas  which  will  facil- 
itate further  inquiry,  and  the  criticism  and  construc- 
tive interpretation  of  a  variety  of  life-problems. 
This  point  of  view  is  not  sceptical.  It  is  not  undog- 
matic  in  the  sense  of  mere  looseness  of  definition 
and  avoidance  of  classification,  nor  yet  in  the  sense 
of  a  careless  eclecticism.  But  it  aims  at  a  philoso- 
phy which  shall  be  instrumental  rather  than  final, 
and  instrumental  not  to  establishing  and  warranting 
any  particular  set  of  truths,  but  instrumental  in 
furnishing  points  of  view  and  working  ideas  which 
may  clarify  and  illuminate  the  actual  and  concrete 
course  of  life. 

Such  a  conception  of  the  aim  and  worth  of  philoso- 
phy is  alone,  I  take  it,  appropriate  to  the  inherent 
logic  of  our  America.  Philosophers  are  not  to  be  a 
separate  and  monopolistic  priesthood  set  apart  to 
guard,  and,  under  certain  conditions,  to  reveal,  an 
isolated  treasury  of  truths.  It  is  theirs  to  organize — 
such  organization  involving,  of  course,  criticism,  re- 
jection, transformation — the  highest  and  wisest  ideas 


JOHN   DEWEY'S   ADDRESS  113 

of  humanity,  past  and  present,  in  such  fashion  that 
they  may  become  most  effective  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  certain  recurrent  and  fundamental  problems, 
which  humanity,  collectively  and  individually,  has 
to  face.  For  this  reason  philosophers  must  be 
teachers  as  well  as  inquirers.  The  association  of 
these  two  functions  is  organic, not  accidental.  Hence 
the  connection  of  philosophy  with  the  work  and 
function  of  the  University  is  natural  and  inevitable. 
The  University  is  the  fit  abode  of  philosophy.  It 
is  in  the  University  that  philosophy  finds  the  organ, 
the  working  agency,  through  which  it  may  realize 
its  social  and  national  aim. 

I  recognize  that  this  treatment  of  the  relation  of 
philosophy  to  University  teaching  and  to  national 
life  has  conveyed  only  vague,  although  unfortu- 
nately not  glittering,  generalities.  Generalities, 
indeed,  are  all  the  occasion  permits  or  requires. 
But  vagueness,  in  the  present  formative  condition 
of  national  life  and  of  philosophy,  inheres  in  the 
very  situation.  It  were  all  too  easy  to  gain  a  seem- 
ing definiteness  and  finality  by  paying  the  price  of 
a  certain  falsity  and  unreality.  It  is,  however, 
unsuitable  to  the  occasion  and  to  the  filial  gratitude 
due  my  Alma  Mater  to  conclude  otherwise  than 
with  a  recognition  of  the  profound  and  vital  con- 
sciousness evinced  by  the  University  of  Vermont 
from  the  day  of  its  foundation,  of  the  import  of  phil- 
osophy,— directly  for  its  own  students  and  through 
them  for  the  nation. 


THE  NATURE  OF  A  LIBERAL  EDUCATION 


BY  JAMES  R.  WHEELER,  PH.  D.,  1880 


When  I  was  honored  a  few  weeks  ago  with  an 
invitation  to  take  part  in  this  conference,  I  must 
confess  that  I  was  a  little  puzzled  to  know  how  I 
was  to  treat  in  a  few  minutes'  time  any  important 
topic  under  the  heads  of  education  and  scholarship, 
from  either  of  which  general  themes  I  was  asked  to 
select  a  subject.  I  felt — and  still  feel — myself 
somewhat  in  the  position  of  a  friend  of  mine,  a 
Shakespearean  scholar,  who  was  asked  to  give  a 
five-minute  talk  on  Hamlet.  However,  the  request 
of  our  Alma  Mater  at  this  season  is  in  the  nature 
of  a  command  which  may  not  be  disobeyed,  and  I 
shall  therefore  try  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject 
of  a  Liberal  Education — its  nature  and  purpose.  I 
dare  say  my  remarks  will  seem  trite  enough  to 
many  of  you,  but  amid  the  great  specialization  of 
modern  life  it  is  not  always  easy  to  keep  hold  on 
simple  educational  truths  which  are  fundamental, 
and  so  it  becomes  worth  while  now  and  then  to 
restate  such  truths.  Perhaps,  too,  this  topic  may 
not  appear  to  be  very  closely  related  to  the  general 
subject  of  our  conference,  "The   influence  of  the 


JAMES    R.    WHEELER'S    ADDRESS  115 

University  in  the  world,"  but  it  is  closely  related 
to  the  conception  of  education  which  defines  the 
functions  and  limits  of  a  University,  and  it  is  a 
vital  element  in  the  present  active  discussion  of  the 
problems  of  university  education. 

As  yet  we  are  only  beginning  to  realize  the 
nature  of  true  University  work  and  to  perceive  how 
totally  inadequate  the  old  popular  American  idea  of 
a  University  really  is — a  college  with  a  collection 
of  professional  schools  about  it,  medical,  legal, 
technical,  etc.,  with  graded  courses  of  instruction 
which  are  adapted  to  definite  and  fixed  careers  in 
the  social  structure.  A  larger  and  less  limited  idea 
of  the  University  began  to  find  realization  among 
us  a  little  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  now 
in  various  parts  of  our  broad  land  we  may  witness 
the  gradual  growth  of  a  truer  University  ideal, 
which  is  revealing  itself  with  all  the  slow  and  safe 
conservatism  that  characterizes  healthy  changes 
in  education  and  politics.  Coinciding  with  this 
development  in  higher  education,  and  no  doubt  in 
part  causing  it,  we  have  been  watching  for  a  still 
longer  time  the  gradual  metamorphosis  of  the  old 
American  college,  the  institution  which  has  for  so 
many  years  been  the  expression  of  the  popular  ideal 
of  liberal  education.  Many  have  lamented  these 
changes,  which  now  and  then  have  appeared  to 
involve  some  loss  and  which  have  certainly  for  a 
time  confused  the  general  conception  of  liberal 
training,  so  that  today  one   sometimes   hears  criti- 


116  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

cisms  of  collegiate  work  which  look  as  if  some 
reaction  against  the  new-found  freedom  in  the 
choice  of  studies  was  likely  to  set  in.  But  the  old 
order  passed  away  naturally  and  inevitably  under 
the  pressure  of  the  many  new  subjects  which  over- 
loaded the  college  curriculum,  and  whatever  system 
or  systems  shall  eventually  issue  from  the  present 
somewhat  confused  state  of  affairs,  it  seems  highly 
improbable  that  anything  like  the  former  scheme 
could  or  should  be  revived. 

The  feature  in  the  situation  produced  by  these 
educational  changes  which  may  rightly  cause 
anxiety  is  not  so  much  the  loss  of  this  or  that  study 
from  a  given  course  which  a  student  pursues,  as  the 
loss  of  a  popular  belief  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
a  liberal  education.  This  seems  to  me  much  more 
important  than  the  question  of  the  duration  of  col- 
legiate training,  which  may  well  be  different  for  dif- 
ferent persons.  How  much  obscured  this  belief  may 
become  is  seen  in  one  way  by  the  number  of  different 
degrees  which  are  often  given  for  what  is  thought 
to  be  collegiate  or  liberal  training.  When  we  have 
A.  B.'s  and  Ph.  B.'s  and  B.  L.'s,  and  heaven 
knows  what,  in  one  place  and  another  (not  indeed 
everywhere),  is  it  at  all  wonderful  that  the  essential 
difference  between  collegiate  training  and  that  of 
technical  schools,  which  are  properly  professional, 
should  be  overlooked  by  many?  Why  not  add  a 
few  more  degrees  and  consider  that  the  engineer, 
the  chemist  and  the  student  of  agriculture  has  also 


JAMES    R.    WHEELER'S    ADDRESS  117 

had  what  is  called  a  liberal  education  ?  I  ain  far 
from  wishing  to  make  any  comparison  of  the  merits 
of  one  form  of  training  with  those  of  another.  Such 
comparisons  are  about  as  foolish  and  futile  as  those 
between  the  merits  of  the  sexes.  All  forms  of 
educational  training  are  of  course  valuable,  but 
they  are  valuable  for  different  purposes  in  our 
complex  social  structure,  and  our  recent  educational 
development  has  greatly  tended  to  confuse  the  con- 
ception of  what  is  liberal  and  what  professional,  a 
distinction  often  very  difficult  and  in  some  cases 
impossible  to  draw,  as  we  approach  details. 

But  when  we  come  to  consider  the  effect  produced 
on  mind  and  character  by  different  forms  of  educa- 
tion great  caution  is  necessary,  since  the  formal 
part  of  an  individual's  training  is  often  the  lesser 
part  of  the  whole  process.  I  am  reminded  of  a 
witty  remark  once  made  to  me  by  an  eminent  gen- 
tleman in  a  leading  university  where  the  question 
of  requiring  Greek  was  under  discussion.  He  said, 
"I  used  to  believe  in  this  requirement,  but  when  I 
heard  all  the  members  of  the  Greek  department 
argue  for  it,  I  perceived  that  no  one  of  them 
possessed  the  qualities  which  all  said  came  from  a 
study  of  Greek,  and  so  I  have  come  to  doubt  the 
soundness  of  my  former  belief."  Probably  this 
was  a  somewhat  unfair  statement  of  the  case,  but 
the  anecdote  suggests  the  undoubted  truth  that 
most  of  us  tend  to  exaggerate  the  general  intel- 
lectual and  moral  effect  of  studies  through  which 


118  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

we  ourselves  are  conscious  of  having  attained  growth 
and  inspiration.  And  if  this  be  true  with  reference 
to  the  effect  of  particular  studies,  it  is  of  course  true 
in  the  case  of  systems  of  education,  since  life  itself 
must  after  all  remain  the  great  educator;  and  so 
the  experience  of  men  who,  like  Odysseus  of  old, 
have  seen  the  cities  of  men  and  have  known  man's 
mind  may  frequently  supply  the  lack  of  early  liberal 
training.  Studies,  as  Bacon  says,  "teach  not  their 
own  use ;  but  that  is  a  wisdom  without  them,  and 
above  them,  won  by  observation."  Yet,  while  we 
admit  the  fact  that  no  system  of  education  makes 
the  man  more  than  in  part,  we  need  not  minimize 
the  importance  of  the  role  to  be  assigned  to  early 
liberal  study  in  the  formation  of  mental  and  moral 
traits,  or  take  a  pessimistic  view  of  the  future  of 
the  American  College  as  the  home  of  liberal  study, 
if  only  it  shall  continue  to  uphold  the  idea  of  such 
study  with  definiteness,  wisely  adapting  this  idea 
to  meet  the  real  and  essential  needs  of  the  hour. 
What  then  is  this  idea,  and  how  amid  the  sharp 
competition  of  the  different  fields  of  study  which 
lie  before  the  student  are  we  to  apprehend  its 
essential  quality? 

When  a  student  undertakes  to  fit  himself  to  be 
a  practicing  physician,  or  a  lawyer,  or  an  engineer, 
to  train  himself  in  fact  for  any  definite  career,  or 
when  as  a  worker  at  the  University  he  undertakes 
some  special  line  of  research,  he  of  course  aims  at 


JAMES    R.    WHEELER'S    ADDRESS  119 

something  which  is  perfectly  definite  and  obvious. 
The  idea  and  purpose  which  underlie  his  efforts  are 
easily  apprehended  by  anyone.  But  when  he  seeks 
what  we  call  a  liberal  education,  many  honestly 
think  that  time  is  wasted  (and  for  some  minds  it 
probably  is);  but  in  general  such  an  opinion 
simply  betrays  a  lack  of  imagination  on  the  part  of 
him  who  holds  it.  It  shows  him  to  be  in  the 
largest  and  truest  sense  unpractical,  since  it  leaves 
out  of  account  any  well  directed  attempt  to  produce 
what  that  intensely  practical  man  Aristotle  would 
have  called  a  e£i<?  or  "habit"  of  mind,  a  way  of 
looking  at  things,  and  reverses  the  scriptural  truth 
that  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal  and  the 
things  which  are  unseen  are  eternal.  Liberal 
training  then  is  in  its  essence  ethical.  It  may  deal 
with  fact,  to  be  sure,  yet  not  with  mere  fact,  but 
with  fact  as  interpreted  into  man's  mental  experi- 
ence. Its  object  is  that  the  soul  may  get  "sober- 
ness and  righteousness  and  wisdom,"  to  use  Plato's 
words  ;  that  like  the  great  poet,  a  man  shall  come 
to  "see  life  steadily  and  see  it  whole."  The  very 
young  man  cannot  of  course  attain  to  such  an  ideal, 
because  his  e£t?  or  ' '  habit ' '  becomes  confirmed  only 
through  life's  experience,  but  this  "habit"  should 
be  formed  by  the  true  collegiate  training.  Its 
ethics  are  not  in  the  ' '  whirlwind  and  the  fire  ' '  of 
noisy  strenuousness,  nor  does  the  foot-ball  field  fur- 
nish its  ideal.     It 


120  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

"does  not  come  with  houses  or  with  gold, 
With  place,  with  honour,  and  a  flattering  crew; 
'Tis  not  in  the  world's  market  bought  and  sold — 
But  the  smooth-slipping  weeks 
Drop  by,  and  leave  the  seeker  still  untired." 

The  man  of  liberal  training  will  of  course  in  the 
world's  work  eventually  devote  himself  to  some 
special  line  of  activity,  but  into  everything  he 
should  carry  that  spirit  of  large  toleration  which 
comes  from  the  power  to  see  and  to  appreciate  the 
ideal  even  when  its  manifestation  is  in  a  depart- 
ment of  knowledge  with  which  he  may  have  little 
or  no  familiarity. 

But  of  course  the  practical  difficult)''  conies  when 
we  seek  to  produce  this  desirable  ' '  habit ' '  of  mind 
through  the  study  of  definite  subjects.  At  this 
point  the  pressure  from  all  sides  is  felt,  and  we 
realize  fully  how  much  the  last  two  or  three  gener- 
ations have  done  to  widen  the  field  of  knowledge 
and  how  little  progress  has  been  made  in  determin- 
ing whether  or  not  different  subjects  are  of  greater 
or  less  importance  in  their  bearing  upon  liberal 
training.  We  should  therefore  try  to  avoid  losing 
our  bearings  amid  the  winds  which  blow  from  every 
quarter,  and  give  heed  to  a  few  simple  and  general 
truths.  If  a  liberal  education  is  essentially  ethical 
in  character;  if,  that  is,  its  object  is  to  produce  a 
certain  quality  or  tendency  of  mind  which  is  calcu- 
lated to  affect  a  man's  attitude  toward  life  and 
toward  his  fellow  man;    then   we    shall   find  much 


JAMES    R.     WHEELERS    ADDRESS  121 

truth,  though  certainly  not  the  whole  truth,  in 
Pope's  well  worn  line  which  says  that  u  the  proper 
study  of  mankind  is  man,"  and  we  shall  feel  the 
need  first  of  all  of  those  studies  which  tend  to 
enable  a  man,  as  Matthew  Arnold  once  put  it,  to 
relate  the  pieces  of  knowledge  which  he  collects 
"  to  the  sense  in  him  for  conduct,  to  the  sense  in 
him  for  beauty."  Such  studies  are  unquestion- 
ably literature  and  the  fine  arts,  philosophy  and 
pure  mathematics,  history  and  politics,  including 
economic  and  social  science.  All  these  subjects 
have  to  do  with  our  complex  human  organism,  and 
all,  if  taught  humanely,  should  tend  to  produce  the 
liberal  "  habit"  of  mind. 

Let  me  turn  aside  at  this  point  for  a  moment  to 
express  the  opinion  that  the  ' '  commercial  educa- 
tion ' '  at  present  so  much  talked  of  should  not  be 
conceived  of  as  separate  from  such  liberal  training 
as  this.  Surely  at  this  time,  if  ever,  when  the  vast 
social  problems  brought  to  light  by  great  commer- 
cial enterprises  oppress  the  minds  and  consciences 
of  thoughtful  men,  we  need  to  emphasize  the 
splendid  ideals  which  commerce  rightly  conceived 
may  realize.  What  more  liberalizing  than  the 
knowledge  which  a  large  and  generous  conception 
of  trade  may  bring  into  play  ?  In  what  field  of 
activity  does  the  world  more  greatly  need  that  the 
leaders  should  be  men  whose  conception  of  their 
duty  shall  be  influenced  by  a  knowledge  of  the 
nature  and  history  of  man  ? 


122  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

But  I  should  be  a  poor  apostle  of  the  free  spirit 
of  Hellenism,  if  I  were  to  maintain  that  solely 
amid  such  studies  as  direct  the  thought  back  upon 
the  nature  and  doings  of  man  is  to  be  found  the 
atmosphere  of  liberal  learning.  Plato  in  former 
times  found  it  necessary  to  enlarge  his  scheme  of 
so-called  "musical"  education,  through  which  the 
"philosophic"  soul  was  to  be  nurtured,  by  the 
addition  of  the  virile  element  to  be  found  in  '  'gym- 
nastic ;"  and  so  we  of  today,  who  live  in  an  age  so 
noteworthy  for  the  advance  of  natural  science,  recog- 
nizing in  like  manner  the  different  atmosphere 
which  pervades  the  study  of  nature,  cannot  afford 
to  neglect  what  has  been  called  the  "ethical  value 
of  fact,"  or  put  aside  from  our  ideal  of  liberal  cul- 
ture those  virtues  which  the  student  of  physical 
science  should  acquire  from  his  work, — patience,  a 
realization  of  human  limitation,  and  a  respect  for 
objective  truth,  or  fact. 

But  the  spirit  of  such  study  of  fact  should  not  be 
that  of  fact  alone,  but,  as  has  already  been  said,  of 
fact  as  interpreted  into  man's  mental  experience, 
and  thus  in  a  liberal  training  properly  understood 
there  can  rightly  be  no  opposition  between  the 
studies  which  concern  man  and  those  which  con- 
cern nature. 

When  we  read  the  scheme  of  education  which 
Milton  proposed,  we  stand  aghast  at  the  amount  he 
deemed  it  possible  for  the  pupil  to  accomplish. 
Today  the    problem  has  of   course  become   vastly 


JAMES    R.    WHEELER'S    ADDRESS  12 

more  complex  yet,  and  the  proper  selection  from 
the  subjects  which  should  promote  the  liberal 
"habit"  of  mind,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  needs 
of  the  individual  student  is  the  most  vitally  impor- 
tant question  which  can  confront  the  faculty  of  a 
college.  Nor  in  determining  the  quantity  of  work 
possible  should  we  forget  that  its  quality  is  no  less 
important.  The  moral  effect  of  work  carelessly 
done  must  enter  into  consideration,  and  the  recently 
published  report  of  the  ' '  Committee  on  improving 
instruction  in  Harvard  College  ' '  will  furnish  much 
food  for  reflection  to  him  who  will  read  it  carefully. 
But  this  is  not  the  place  for  the  discussion  of 
details,  and  the  solution  of  the  vexed  problem  must 
in  any  case  come  through  a  gradual  evolution.  Let 
us,  however,  hold  fast  to  a  belief  in  the  reality  of 
liberal  education,  recognizing  that  it  is  its  external 
form  rather  than  its  essential  nature  which  may 
undergo  change,  and  that  the  problems  which  it 
suggests  are  among  those  great  human  questions 
which,  as  has  been  finely  said,  are  to  be  answered 
not  too  much  in  the  spirit  of  the  age,  but  rather  in 
the  spirit  of  the  ages. 


GREEK  PAPYRI  RECENTLY  DISCOVERED 
IN  EGYPT 


BY    KIRBY    F.    SMITH,    PH.   D.,   1884 


The  transmission  of  our  Classical  texts  is  a  story- 
more  full  of  strange  accidents  and  hair-breadth 
escapes  than  the  latest  novel  of  adventure.  For 
five  hundred  years  the  priceless  verses  of  Catullus 
appear  to  have  hung  on  the  fate  of  a  single  ex- 
emplar. There  seems  to  have  been  but  one  copy 
of  Tibullus  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne  and  only 
one  copy  of  Lucretius  in  the  ninth  century.  Some 
of  the  best  surviving  work  of  Tacitus,  all  that  we 
have  of  Fronto,  of  Cicero's  Republic,  of  Aeschy- 
lus, comes  to  us,  in  each  case,  through  a  single 
manuscript.  How  many,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
lost  during  that  desperate  voyage  through  the 
Middle  Ages  to  the  safe  harbor  of  the  Printing 
Press  !  Practically  all  of  the  elder  Greek  lyric  has 
disappeared,  all  of  the  Greek  comedy  of  manners, 
over  two  hundred  plays  of  the  three  great  tragic 
poets,  most  of  the  Alexandrian  romantic  poetry,  all 
of  the  native  Roman  drama.  Here  is  already  a 
large  library.     It  is,     however,    merely    a    small 


KIRBY    F.    SMITH'S    ADDRESS  125 

portion  of  that  which,  in  many  cases,  had  fallen 
from  the  nerveless  grasp  of  Antiquity  long  before 
the  Middle  Ages  had  begun.  It  is  more  than 
likely  that,  so  far  as  the  destruction  of  Classics  is 
concerned,  we  have  little  reason  for  reviling  the 
memory  of  Pope  Gregory  and  Caliph  Omar. 

The  great  libraries  of  Europe  still  justify  a  nar- 
row margin  of  hope.  But  the  gleanings  here  are 
scanty  and  usually  of  no  great  importance.  Then 
came  the  discovery  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum, 
that  wonderful  palimpsest  of  antique  everyday  life 
written  over  by  the  hand  of  Vesuvius.  But  to 
judge  by  surviving  remains,  the  Pompeians  were 
interested  in  no  books  except  account-books.  In 
Herculaneum  one  library  was  discovered,  but  it 
turned  out  to  be  the  collection  of  some  enthusiastic 
bibliophile,  who  was  interested  in  nothing  but  the 
philosophy  of  Epicurus.  The  incomparable  Me- 
nander  was  still  doomed  to  communicate  with  the 
modern  world  only  through  his  Roman  interpreters. 
The  noble  verses  of  Ennius,  the  scathing  wit  of 
Lucilius,  the  Story  Book  of  Miletus,  the  melodies 
of  Sappho,  of  Alcaeus,  of  Anacreon,  of  Simonides, 
were  still  far  away  across  the  long  silence.  There 
was  no  hope  then  as  there  has  been  of  late  that 
Herculaneum  might  yet  be  completely  excavated. 
The  most  sanguine,  therefore,  felt  that  the  possi- 
bilities of  further  discovery  were  now  practically 
exhausted. 


126  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

The  papyrus  of  Hyperides  was  brought  to  Europe 
and  published  as  far  back  as  1850,  but,  although 
the  event  aroused  some  interest,  only  a  few  appear 
to  have  appreciated  the  real  significance  of  it. 
Even  twenty  years  ago,  when  I  parted  with  the 
Alma  Mater  whose  first  Secular  Games  we  are  now 
celebrating,  few  could  have  suspected  that  Egypt 
was  so  well  able  to  demonstrate  to  the  Classics 
themselves  their  own  proverb  of  "Always  some- 
thing strange  from  Africa;"  certainly  no  one  then 
believed  that  in  a  short  time  we  should  behold  an 
era  of  discovery  in  that  wonderful  country  which 
can  only  be  compared  with  the  golden  days  of  Boc- 
caccio and  Poggio  Bracciolini.  Even  now,  not 
every  one  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  for  fifteen  years 
ancient  papyri  have  been  pouring  into  Europe  with 
such  rapidity  that  decipherment  and  publication  can 
not  keep  pace  with  the  supply  of  material.  Many 
are  preserved  in  Egypt  itself,  but  most  of  them  are 
taken  to  the  great  museums  of  London,  Paris, 
Berlin,  Leyden,  etc.,  in  short,  to  those  institutions 
which  have  lent  substantial  aid  to  their  discovery 
and  preservation. 

These  papyri  deal  with  every  conceivable  subject, 
from  an  ode  of  Sappho  or  a  fragment  of  Menander 
to  a  butcher's  bill,  a  pedlar's  license,  or  a  ticket  on 
a  Nile  boat.  Their  value  to  students  in  any  and 
all  lines  of  thought  is,  of  course,  beyond  calculation. 
Not  only  history,  politics  and  literature,  in  the 
broader   sense,    but  religion,    popular  beliefs    and 


KIRBY    F.    SMITH'S    ADDRESS  127 

superstitions,  finance,  morals,  education,  the  arts 
and  sciences,  the  trades  and  professions,  private  life 
in  its  most  minute  and  intimate  details,  everything, 
in  fact,  which  the  ordinary  man  did  or  thought 
from  day  to  day,  is  recorded  here. 

The  Graeco-Roman  occupation  of  Egypt,  to 
which  these  papyri  belong,  extended  from  the  death 
of  Alexander  the  Great  to  the  Saracenic  conquest — 
about  a  thousand  years,  in  round  numbers.  The 
Roman  rule  began  with  the  death  of  Cleopatra 
after  the  battle  of  Actium,  and  the  province  passed 
over  to  the  Eastern  Empire  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century.  The  Ptolemaic  period  was  the  most 
brilliant  and,  until  these  recent  discoveries,  the 
least  known.  It  was  during  this  age  that  the 
Greek  language  and  literature  were  so  thoroughly 
superimposed  upon  the  country  that  the  fiercest 
vicissitudes  were  scarcely  able  to  dislodge  them. 
The  fact  says  much  for  the  essential  vitality  of 
Hellenism.  It  also  says  not  a  little  for  the  admin- 
istrative ability  of  the  Macedonian  Pharaohs, 
especially  of  the  first  Ptolemy,  that  adventurous 
soldier  of  fortune  who  was  one  of  Alexander's 
generals  and  who,  upon  the  conqueror's  death, 
received  Egypt  as  his  portion.  Alexandria,  the  city 
built  by  Alexander  himself  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile, 
soon  became  the  commercial  centre  and  the  clearing- 
house of  nations,  which  it  has  remained  ever  since. 
Egypt  was  naturally  a  rich  country  and  the  Greeks 
flocked  to  it  by  thousands.      Ptolemy  gave  them 


128  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

every  encouragement,  his  policy  being  to  Hellenize 
the  country  as  rapidly  and  as  thoroughly  as  was 
consistent  with  peace. 

Nor  were  the  commercial  and  political  sides  of 
life  his  only  care.  With  a  temperament  and  tastes 
which  remind  one  of  Sulla's,  his  encouragement  of 
art,  science  and  literature  was  liberal  and  wise. 
The  great  Alexandrian  Library,  the  most  famous 
collection  of  books  the  world  has  ever  known  and 
for  ages  a  centre  of  student-life,  was  directly  due  to 
him.  His  brilliant  court  owed  its  splendor  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  scholars  and  literary  men  whom 
his  policy  as  well  as  his  personality  gathered  about 
him.  Not  without  reason  was  this  period  of  Greek 
life  and  thought  known  as  the  Alexandrian  Age. 
The  literary  Greek  went  to  Alexandria  as  natural  lv 
as  professors  go  to  a  university  town,  artists  to 
Paris,  trust  magnates  to  New  York. 

Egypt,  therefore,  in  the  Graeco-Roman  period, 
was  not  a  remote  and  unimportant  district  in  which 
only  some  faint  echoes  of  the  Graeco-Roman  life 
and  literature  were  heard;  on  the  contrary,  for 
more  than  five  hundred  years,  it  was  a  centre  of 
wealth,  learning  and  refinement,  scarcely  second 
to  Rome  herself.  Hence  the  importance  of  dis- 
covery here  and  the  bright  vista  of  possibilities  for 
explorers  yet  to  come. 

But  where,  one  naturally  inquires,  are  all  these 
papyri  found,  and  why  are  they  found  ?  How  have 
they    managed    to    survive  ?     How    is   it    that    we 


KIRBY  F.   SMITH'S  ADDRESS  129 

actually  have  before  our  eyes  today  the  hand- 
writing- of  men  who  could  have  attended  the  lec- 
tures of  Aristotle,  or  heard  a  first  performance  of 
Menander?  There  are  two  main  reasons.  The 
first  is  the  burial-customs  of  the  Egyptians,  the 
second  is  the  climate  of  the  country  working  in 
conjunction  with  the  habits  of  the  Nile. 

The  mummy  was  frequently  supplied  with  a  roll 
of  papyrus  containing  prayers  and  other  necessary 
directions  for  finding  his  way  through  that  compli- 
cated and  perilous  abode,  the  Egyptian  underworld. 
This  prototype  of  the  useful  Baedeker,  the  Book  of 
the  Dead,  was  frequently  accompanied  by  the  per- 
son's favorite  author,  his  prize  essay  at  school  or 
something  of  that  sort.  Practically  all  we  now 
possess  of  the  Egyptian  language  and  literature, 
outside  of  inscriptions,  has  come  to  us  from  this 
source  alone.  It  was  not  long  before  the  Greek 
settlers  in  Egypt  adopted  these  customs.  Hence 
some  few  Greek  manuscripts,  for  example,  the 
text  of  Hyperides  to  which  I  have  just  referred, 
have  reached  us  in  this  way.  Three  hundred  years 
ago,  even  one  hundred  years  ago,  it  is  possible  that 
hundreds  of  them  might  have  been  recovered  from 
this  source. 

Another  source  of  supply  which   now  and  then 

proves  valuable  is  the  wads  of  papyrus  occasionally 

tucked  into  the  mummy  case  to  keep  the  occupant 

from  rolling  about.     Still  another  source  was  dis- 
9 


130  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

covered  in  the  early  nineties,  I  believe,  byKenyon, 
who  observed  that  in  many  instances,  through  lack 
of  wood,  mummy  cases  had  been  made  by  glueing 
together  sheets  of  papyrus  in  successive  layers. 
Many  of  these  sheets,  when  separated,  prove  to 
have  writing  upon  them. 

But  in  the  last  ten  years  another  source  has  been 
discovered  and  is  being  explored  as  rapidly  as 
scanty  means  will  allow.  This  is  literally  the  earth 
itself,  more  especially  the  sites  of  deserted  towns. 
Here  is  where  the  weather  and  the  Nile  played  a 
most  important  part.  Since  the  dawn  of  history 
Egypt  has  been  an  absolutely  rainless  country. 
The  area  of  land  cultivated  has  always  been  the 
area  covered  by  the  annual  flood  of  the  Nile  and  no 
more.  Papyrus  is  more  durable  than  our  modern 
paper.  Nevertheless,  any  piece  of  papj^rus  exposed 
to  the  action  of  the  stream  would  soon  be  destroyed, 
as  a  matter  of  course.  But  on  the  other  hand,  any 
papyrus  dropped  in  the  sand  beyond  high-water 
mark  is  as  safe  from  century  to  century,  so  far  as 
moisture  is  concerned,  as  though  it  had  been 
deposited  in  the  British  Museum.  Now  every 
inundation  of  the  Nile  leaves  behind  it  an  alluvial 
deposit  which  slightly  raises  the  banks.  As  the 
high-water  mark  does  not  rise  in  proportion,  the 
result  is  that  the  outer  edge  of  cultivation  must 
draw  nearer  the  river  from  year  to  year.  The 
ancient  Egyptians  undertook  to  counterbalance 
this  process  by  a  vast  system   of  dykes,  dams,  and 


KIRBY   F.    SMITH'S   ADDRESS  131 

great  reservoirs,  notably  that  Lake  Moeris  on  the 
site  of  the  modern  Fayoimi  which  Herodotns  saw 
and  admired  in  the  fifth  century  B.  C.  But  some 
of  these  very  papyri  lately  discovered  show  that  less 
than  two  centuries  later,  when  Ptolemy  ascended  the 
throne  of  the  Pharaohs,  the  whole  system  was  out 
of  repair.  He  began  improvements  at  once  and 
the  great  work  was  continued  by  his  immediate 
successors.  As  long  as  the  country  was  prosperous 
the  contraction  of  arable  land  was  offset  by  irriga- 
tion. But  by  the  beginning  of  the  third  century 
the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire,  which  set  in  with 
such  startling  rapidity  after  the  death  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  was  felt  in  Egypt  as  elsewhere.  The  conse- 
quence was  that,  from  that  period,  the  inhabitants 
of  towns  farthest  from  the  river  found  it  necessary 
from  time  to  time  to  leave  their  homes  and  move 
down  inside  of  the  high-water  mark.  Indeed,  some 
Ptolemaic  towns  unusually  high  up  were  deserted 
at  a  much  earlier  date.  This  process  went  on  all 
over  Egypt,  but  to  the  classical  student  the  Fayoum 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  profitable  areas 
of  exploration,  because  it  was  here  that  so  many 
Greek  towns  were  founded  by  the  earlier  Ptolemies. 
It  is  in  the  ancient  rubbish-heaps  of  such  de- 
serted towns  that  the  valuable  discoveries  of  this 
class  have  been  made.  So  far,  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  has  been  the  old  town  of  Oxyrhynchus 
lately  excavated  by  Grenfell  and  Hunt. 


132  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

Fragments  of  a  literary  nature  are  found  now 
and  then,  but  most  of  the  discoveries,  as  one  might 
expect,  have  been  public  or  private  papers  of  all 
sorts,  either  lost  or  thrown  out  as  worthless  by 
their  departing  owners  sixteen  or  seventeen  centu- 
ries ago,  buried  immediately  by  the  sand,  and 
remaining  there  undisturbed  and  practically  intact 
until  now.  In  Oxyrhynchus,  for  example,  the  old 
government  offices  appear  to  have  been  cleaned  out 
before  leaving. 

The  date  of  these  papyri  is  usually  somewhere 
between  three  hundred  years  before  and  five  hun- 
dred years  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  Survivors 
from  an  earlier  period  are  excessively  rare.  The 
majority  belongs  to  the  two  centuries  between  the 
accession  of  Augustus  and  the  death  of  Antoninus 
Pius. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  most  of  the  Classical 
texts  discovered  are  duplicates  of  those  which  we 
already  possess.  Indeed  so  much  of  the  Homeric 
poems  has  been  brought  to  light  in  this  way  that 
we  now  have,  practically,  a  complete  text  before 
us  derived  from  this  source  alone. 

The  special  student  of  textual  criticism  derives 
much  benefit  from  these  discoveries.  He  finds,  for 
instance,  that  our  traditional  texts  are  usually 
descended  from  the  best  critical  editions  and  that, 
as  such,  they  are  better  as  a  rule  than  the  ordinary 
current  editions  of  the  first  century.  From  this 
fact  he  learns  the   valuable  lessons:  first,  that  the 


KIRBY   F.    SMITH'S   ADDRESS  133 

much-abused  mediaeval  scribe  was  a  better  man 
than  he  had  supposed;  second,  that  in  the  matter 
of  manuscripts  age,  per  se,  is  no  criterion  of  excel- 
lence. He  also  learns  that  the  principle  of  follow- 
ing one  manuscript  exclusively  is  indefensible. 
Finally,  he  discovers  that  purely  conjectural  criti- 
cism, except  as  an  amusement  to  the  editor,  is  of 
no  earthly  value. 

The  most  of  us,  however,  are  more  interested  in 
the  discovery  of  authors  who  had  long  since  been 
given  up  for  lost.  The  discovery  of  Hyperides  in 
1850  is  an  old  story.  The  next  important  discov- 
ery, the  one  in  fact  which  first  aroused  the  world  to 
the  possibilities  of  Kgypt,  was  made  by  Kenyon 
and  published  in  1891.  This  was  the  Mimiambi 
of  Herondas,  an  author  of  the  third  century  B.  C. 
who  enjoyed  a  long  and  deserved  popularity.  In 
fact,  he  was  translated  into  Latin  by  the  Roman 
knight  Gn.  Mattius  about  the  time  of  Sulla. 
Herondas  was  read  by  Pliny  in  the  time  of  Trajan. 
He  was  also  imitated  in  the  same  period  by  one 
Vergilius  Romanus,  'a  person  of  quality.'  But  the 
fragments  of  Herondas  were  so  inconsiderable  that, 
except  for  the  title,  we  were  hardly  in  a  position  to 
define  even  the  character  of  his  work.  The  manu- 
script discovered  by  Kenyon  and  now  in  the  British 
Museum  contained  seven  complete  poems  and  large 
fragments  of  two  more.  These  pieces — the  title 
is,  itself,  significant — are  little  scenes  from  ordinary 
life  presented  in  dramatic  form  and  couched  in  the 


134  UNIVERSITY    OF   VERMONT 

limping  iambic  verse  of  Hipponax.  At  times  one 
is  strongly  reminded  of  certain  poems  of  Theocritus, 
especially  the  '  Syracusan  Women  '  (15).  But  the 
homeliness  of  the  idyll  is  something  quite  different 
from  the  homeliness  of  the  Mimiambi.  Herondas 
is  the  Teniers  of  Alexandrian  life.  There  is  no 
parallel  for  him  in  the  surviving  literature  of 
antiquity. 

A  few  lines  from  the  second  poem  may  be  quoted 
as  a  fair  illustration  of  his  style.  Buttarus,  the 
keeper  of  a  low  '  dive,'  presents  his  case  to  the  jury. 
He  has  sued  one  Thales  for  assault  and  battery, 
the  same  being  further  aggravated  by  a  wanton 
destruction  of  property  and,  above  all,  by  a  neglect 
to  pay  the  regular  fee.  "As  for  you,  Thales,"  he 
says  in  the  midst  of  a  most  characteristic  speech, 
but  one  which  would  not  bear  repetition  here,  "  as 
for  you,  you  don't  know  what  an  orderly  com- 
munity is,  nor  how  an  orderly  community  is  gov- 
erned. Today  you  live  in  Bricinderi;  yesterday  it 
was  Abderi;  tomorrow  you  will  take  the  boat  for 
Phaselis — if  somebody  gives  you  the  fare.  How- 
ever, gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  don't  want  to  bore 
you  with  a  long-winded  speech.  I  have  had  more 
trouble  with  this  man  Thales  than  a  mouse  in  a 
pot  of  pitch.  I  was  mauled  up  by  his  fists  and  the 
door  of  my  house  was  broken  down  and  the  lintel 
set  on  fire — and,  gentlemen,  my  rent  is  over  thirty 
percent,  of  the  whole  value  of  the  place,  etc.,  etc." 


KIRBY    F.    SMITH'S    ADDRESS  135 

In  the  same  year  with  Herondas  came  Aristotle's 
noXtret'a  }A0rjvcu'a)v}  that  is  to  say,  the  constitutional 
history  of  Athens  by  the  greatest  antique  authority 
on  this  subject.  The  text  is  incomplete,  but  quite 
enough  has  survived  to  necessitate  a  thorough- 
going revision  of  all  modern  authorities  concerned 
with  the  history  of  the  period. 

The  next  great  discovery  was  published  in 
November,  1897.  This  was  twenty  odes,  more  or 
less  complete,  of  Bacchylides,  one  of  the  great  lyric 
poets  of  Greece,  the  nephew  of  Simonides  and,  as 
tradition  has  it,  the  rival  of  Pindar  himself. 

Finally,  in  the  spring  of  1903,  Prof,  von  Wil- 
amowitz-Moellendorf  of  the  University  of  Berlin 
published  the  Persians  of  Timotheus.  The  text, 
with  a  provisional  translation,  appeared  in  the 
Independent  for  April  9  (p.  827  f. )  of  the  same 
year.  The  manuscript  was  discovered  at  Abusir, 
an  Egyptian  town  inhabited  by  Greeks  before  the 
Ptolemaic  age.  Only  the  second  half  of  the  original 
roll  was  found.  This  was  buried  with  its  deceased 
owner  and  intended  to  while  away  the  tedium  of 
his  journey  to  Hades.  The  first  half  appears  to 
have  been  kept  by  the  surviving  heir  and  is,  there- 
fore, lost  to  us.  The  first  column  has  suffered 
severely  from  time  and  exposure.  The  remainder, 
however — about  250  lines — is  so  well  preserved  and 
likewise  so  carefully  written,  that  much  of  it  can 
be  read  even  by  a  tyro  in  the  science  of  palaeography. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  also  the  oldest  Greek  manu- 


136  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

script  yet  discovered.  At  all  events,  Wilamowitz 
does  not  hesitate  to  place  the  date  of  it  between  350 
and  330  B.  C,  in  other  words,  not  over  ten  or 
fifteen  years  after  the  death  of  Timotheus  himself. 
If  this  is  correct,  here  is  actually  a  manuscript 
which  comes  down  to  ns  through  more  than  twenty- 
two  centuries  from  the  days  of  Demosthenes.  The 
great  names  of  the  Periclean  Age  had  hardly  ceased 
to  be  a  living  memory;  Plato  had  just  passed  away; 
the  voice  of  the  world's  greatest  orator  might  still 
be  heard;  the  career  of  Alexander  the  Great  had 
not  yet  begun. 

Timotheus  himself  was  more  famous  as  a 
musician  than  as  a  poet.  For  many  reasons, 
however,  the  Persians  has  a  unique  interest.  It 
belongs  to  a  century  of  great  classics,  but  one  of 
which  practically  none  of  the  poetry  had  survived. 
It  is  also  anomos,a  type  of  composition  long  popular 
with  the  Greeks,  but  not  a  single  example  of  it  had 
been  preserved.  Speaking  in  a  general  way,  the 
most  suggestive  modern  parallel  to  the  nomos,  at 
least  as  we  find  it  in  Timotheus,  is  the  oratorio. 
The  rout  of  the  Persians  at  Salamis,  a  theme  of  epic 
or  the  drama,  was  the  poet's  subject.  The  story, 
however,  is  related  in  lyrical  verse  and  the  elevation 
of  lyric  is  preserved,  or  at  any  rate  the  attempt  is 
made  to  preserve  it.  As  Prof.  Gildersleeve  says, 
'  The  Persians  of  Timotheus  is  not  high  poetry, 
but  it  is  at  all  events  high-strung  poetry  and  the 
chords  of  our  responsive  lyre  must  be  screwed  up." 


KIRBY    F.    SMITH'S    ADDRESS  137 

Curious  is  the  conspicuous  absence  of  any  reference 
to  Athens.  Hamlet,  so  to  speak,  is  left  out  of  the 
play.  The  omission  suggests  local  jealousy. 
Timotheus  was  a  native  of  Miletus.  It  also 
suggests  that  the  Persians  was  composed  soon  after 
the  Peloponnesian  War,  when  Athens  was  utterly 
crushed  and  Sparta  supreme. 

As  we  look  back  over  this  brief  space  of  a  dozen 
years,  we  observe  that,  among  other  things,  they  have 
given  us  back  no  less  than  two  important  types  of 
antique  literary  art,  hitherto  not  represented  in 
our  classical  tradition.  Surety  this  alone  is  a  re- 
markable record.  Even  in  this  rushing  workaday 
world  it  has  brought  home  to  us  the  thrill  of  hope 
and  enthusiasm  which  inspired  those  scholars  of 
the  Renaissance  five  hundred  years  ago. 

But  the  four  great  discoveries  I  have  mentioned 
are  by  no  means  all.  Here,  for  instance,  are  at  least 
three  large  fragments  of  Menander,  that  great  poet 
of  the  New  Comedy  whose  recovery  has  been  a 
vision  of  unfulfilled  desire  since  the  days  of  the 
Medici.  We  also  have  some  four  or  five  odes 
of  Sappho  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation,  another 
fragment  of  Alkman,  a  poem  of  uncertain  author- 
ship but  called  the  model  of  Horace's  ninth  epode, 
a  goodly  fragment  of  the  lost  Antiope  of  Euripides, 
another  of  the  Melanippe,  also  a  chorus  of  the 
Orestes  with  the  musical  notes,  a  small  fragment 
of  the  famous   Hekale  of   Callimachus,    within  a 


138  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

short  time  a  large  fragment  of  lyric  which  is  clearly 
the  work  of  Pindar,  etc.,  etc. 

Fragments  of  the  late  Alexandrian  writers,  the 
contemporary  literature  of  that  time,  are,  naturally, 
most  abundant.  Here  are  epigrams,  forgotten 
epics,  histories  and  farces,  commentaries  on  the 
classics,  treatises  on  metre,  music,  grammar, 
medicine,  mathematics,  astrology  and  whatnot. 
Prose  fiction  is  also  well  represented.  Indeed,  in 
the  3rd  volume  of  the  Oxyrhynchns  papyri  I  find 
a  long  fragment  of  a  late  romantic  comedy  which 
the  editors  believe  was  founded  upon  a  novel. 
Surely  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun . 

I  might  easily  devote  an  entire  article  to  those 
fragments  of  writing  between  the  second  and  fourth 
centuries  which  owe  their  inspiration  directly  or 
indirectly  to  the  life  and  teachings  of  our  Saviour. 
It  was  many  generations,  however,  before  the 
ancient  beliefs  were  seriously  affected  by  Chris- 
tianity. At  all  events,  characteristic  of  these 
Egyptian  discoveries  is  the  number  of  books  of 
magic  which  have  come  to  light,  those 

libri  carminum  valentium 
Refixa  caelo  devocare  sidera, 

which  Horace  mentions  and  which  Lucian  ridiculed 
two  centuries  later  in  his  Liars.  Indeed  we  have 
already  learned  so  much  from  these  curious  docu- 
ments of  popular  belief  that  we  may  soon  be  able 
to  perform  for  ourselves  the  Thessalian  specialty  of 


KIRBY  F.  SMITH'S  ADDRESS  139 

drawing  down  the   moon,   the   most  famous   love- 
charm  of  all  antiquity. 

From  some  points  of  view,  however,  the  most 
interesting  portion  of  these  discoveries  can  hardly 
be  reckoned  as  literary  at  all.  Among  them  an 
important  class  are  the  devotiones  or  formal  and 
magic  curses.  A  special  variety  was  the  temple 
devotio.  This  was  a  written  memorandum  to  the 
god  appealing  for  justice  or  revenge.  It  was  hung 
up  at  the  temple  where  it  might  meet  the  eyes  of 
all,  especially  the  eyes  of  the  one  against  whom 
it  was  directed,  and  it  was  not  removed  until  the 
matter  had  been  attended  to.  The  most  famous 
example  is  the  Curse  of  Artemisia,  which  is  as  early 
perhaps  as  the  fourth  century  B.C.  The  woman's 
name  as  well  as  her  dialect  show  that  she  was  from 
Halicarnassus.  It  is  clear  that  Artemisia  had  loved 
not  wisely  but  too  well  some  person  who,  after  she 
had  borne  him  children,  deserted  her  under  aggra- 
vated circumstances.  Her  only  recourse  was  to 
construct  a  curse  and  hang  it  up  in  the  Serapeum. 
Her  syntax  is  shaky  enough,  but  her  tragic 
sincerity  goes  straight  to  one's  heart  and  is  worthy 
of  Euripides.  It  was  the  only  way  she  had  of 
communicating  with  her  betrayer,  and  she  distinctly 
states  that  if  he  will  return  to  his  allegiance  all 
shall  be  forgiven  and  forgotten.  It  will  thus  be 
seen  that  this  type  of  devotio  really  serves  the 
double  purpose  of  a  curse  and  a  personal  in  the 
morning  paper. 


140  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

We  also  find  that  the  ordinary  person  generally 
consulted  the  oracle  in  writing.  Here,  for  example, 
is  one  found  in  the  central  chamber  of  the  temple 
at  Bacchius  ?  It  was  written — probably  by  a 
woman — in  very  bad  but  very  sincere  Greek  :  ' '  To 
Sokanobkoneus  the  great  god.  Tell  me,  shall  I 
stay  in  Bacchias  ?    Shall  I  meet  him  ?  Tell  me  this. ' ' 

Nothing,  however,  is  so  often  found  as  legal  or 
public  documents.  One  of  the  most  important 
types  are  the  so-called  vTTo\j.vr]^a.Tio-\x.oi^  or  official 
reports.  For  example,  we  have  the  long  and 
interesting  account  of  an  embassy  of  Alexandrian 
Jews  and  Anti-Semites  to  the  Kmperor  Claudius 
(41-54  A.  D.).  Still  more  detailed  is  another 
which  describes  an  embassy  to  M.  Aurelius  regard- 
ing the  death  sentence  of  one  Appianus.  This 
report  was  evidently  based  on  the  shorthand  notes 
of  some  one  who  was  present.  Documents  like 
this,  besides  being  interesting  in  themselves,  have 
a  unique  value  for  a  historian  of  Roman  life  under 
the  imperial  regime.  Incidentally,  they  betray  the 
fact  that  if  a  Roman  emperor  attended  to  business 
his  position  was  no  sinecure.  It  was  an  old  joke 
on  Claudius  that  he  used  to  stay  in  Rome  all 
summer  long  and  hold  court.  Trajan,  too,  was 
undoubtedly  the  busiest  man  of  his  time. 

Every  conceivable  thing  turns  up  in  this  vast 
farrago  of  public  and  private  papers.  Here  are 
bills  of  sale,  promissory  notes,  bank  cheques,  deeds, 
contracts,  tax-lists  by  the  score,  long-winded  state- 


KIRBY  F.  SMITH'S  ADDRESS  141 

ments  about  the  crops  and  payment  in  kind, 
notably  grain  and  beer,  all  sorts  of  petitions  to 
officials  asking  for  favors,  airing  grievances,  etc., 
etc.,  licenses,  releases  from  military  service,  mar- 
riage contracts,  divorce  proceedings,  coroners' 
reports,  wills,  inventories,  search-warrants,  bills, 
receipted  and  unreceipted,  and  a  thousand  other 
things.  Here,  for  instance,  is  a  doctor's  prescrip- 
tion from  the  second  century.  It  was  for  ear-ache. 
( '  Dilute  some  gum  with  balsam  of  lilies  and  add 
honey  and  rose-extract.  Twist  some  wool  with  the 
oil  in  it  round  a  probe,  warm,  and  drop  in." 

The  regular  form  of  dinner-invitation  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  following  example  from  the  third 
century.  The  recipient  is  not  named.  "  Isidorus 
invites  you  to  dine  with  him  on  the  occasion  of  his 
daughter's  wedding  at  the  house  of  Titus  the  cen- 
turion at  nine  o'clock  (i.  e.  3  p.  m.)." 

But  to  me  at  least,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
classes  in  this  enormous  waste-basket  which  Time 
has  made  so  precious  to  us  is  that  which  contains 
the  purely  private  correspondence,  those  autograph 
epistolae  obscuronim  virorum  penned  in  the  first 
centuries  of  our  era.  It  is  interesting  to  examine 
the  autographs  of  a  Columbus,  a  Washington,  a 
Napoleon,  but  it  is  also  interesting  to  gaze  upon  the 
signature  of  an  ordinary  man  like  Lucius  Bellenus 
Gemellus,  when  we  realize  that  it  was  written  in  the 
days  of  Pliny  and  Tacitus.  Moreover,  in  the  four- 
teen letters  found  in  his  house  at  Theadelphia  this 


142  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

testy,  thrifty,  warm-hearted  old  Roman  soldier  has 
told  us  more  about  himself  and  his  family  than 
others  have  accomplished  for  themselves  in  whole 
volumes  of  correspondence — intended  for  publi- 
cation. 

Again,  a  small  boy  writes  to  his  father  and 
reminds  him  to  be  sure  to  bring  home  a  present 
from  Alexandria.  A  charming  little  bit  of  mis- 
spelled childish  Greek, which  shows  clearly  enough 
that  the  writer  probably  protruded  his  tongue  while 
laboriously  constructing  each  separate  letter.  Of 
course,  the  fond  father  brought  it  home  with  him — 
because  we  found  it  at  home — and,  I  am  sure,  a 
present  was  forthcoming.  Again,  a  mother  writes 
to  her  son  telling  him  how  pleased  she  is  to  hear 
that  he  is  getting  on  so  well  with  his  studies.  I 
trust  she  was  correctly  informed.  Again,  a  young 
man  who  has  gone  down  to  Alexandria  writes  home 
that  he  is  worn  out  with  looking  for  a  place  and  is 
anxious  to  know  how  "  our  bald-headed  friend  is 
getting  on."  Irene,  whoever  she  was  she  did  not 
have  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  finally  sent  her 
composition  in  the  following  form  :  ' '  Irene  to 
Tannophris  and  Philo,  good  cheer.  I  was  much 
grieved  and  shed  as  many  tears  over  Eumoenus  as 
I  shed  for  Didymus,  and  I  did  everything  that  was 
fitting  and  so  did  all  my  friends.  However,  there 
is  nothing  one  can  do  in  the  face  of  such  trouble. 
So  I  leave  you  to  comfort  yourselves.  Good-bye. 
March    1st."     Which  shows  that  letters    of    con- 


KIRBY  F.  SMITH'S  ADDRESS  143 

dolence  were  just  as  hard  to  write  in  the  second  as 
in  the  twentieth  century. 

A  fourth-century  prototype  of  many  a  modern 
epistle  which  is  not  infrequently  written  with  an 
indelible  pencil  is  Artemis'  communication  to  the 
soldier  Theodorus,  her  'husband  in  God'.  It 
is  written  in  most  barbarous  Greek.  "  Above  all  I 
pray  the  Lord  God  that  we  may  get  you  back  safe 
and  sound.  I  sent  you  a  letter  and  a  cap  through 
your  fellow-soldier  Apion.  I  do  hope  you're  keep- 
ing well.  The  children  send  love  and  Allous  has 
a  bone  to  pick  with  you,  because  as  often  as  you 
have  written  and  sent  love  to  everybody  she  is  the 
only  one  you  haven't  sent  love  to.  Ara  sends 
love." 

Surely  destiny  plays  many  strange  pranks. 
Ara's  message  of  love,  Gemellus 's  order  for  his 
granddaughter's  birthday  dinner,  the  health  of 
' '  our  bald-headed  friend  ' '  have  weathered  all  the 
storms  of  fifty  generations.  Meanwhile,  where  are 
the  elegies  of  Gallus,  the  Andromeda  of  Euripides, 
the  poems  of  Calvus,  the  Flower  of  Agathon? 

But  I  must  close  this  brief  allusion  to  that  which 
impresses  me  as,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable  era 
of  discovery  in  the  history  of  classical  scholarship. 
Nowhere  has  the  investigator  been  more  richly  re- 
warded than  in  Egypt.  Grenfell  and  Hunt,  for 
example,  have  published  no  less  than  four  large 
volumes  entirely  devoted  to  the  papyri  discoveries 
in  the  one  little  town  of  Oxyrhynchus.     [Since  this 


144  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

sentence  was  written  excavations  have  been  renewed 
and  the  discovery  of  many  more  important  papyri 
has  just  been  announced  (February,  1905).]  The 
third  volume  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  rest.  It 
contains  nearly  300  pages  of  text  and,  in  addition, 
150  items  which,  though  safely  housed  in  the 
British  Museum,  are  not  printed  here  but  merely 
described.  Of  the  three  hundred  pages  of  text 
nearly  150  are  devoted  to  literary  fragments.  Of 
these  150  pages,  in  turn,  no  less  than  83  are  filled 
with  classical  fragments  hitherto  unknown   to   us. 

If  work  like  this  could  have  been  done  no  earlier 
than  the  days  of  the  Medici,  it  is  possible  that 
few  of  the  great  names  on  the  splendid  roll  of 
Greek  Literature  would  now  fail  to  answer,  Present. 

But  who  shall  say  what  may  yet  turn  up  in  that 
wonderful  land  to  which  the  Assyrian,  the  Mede, 
the  Persian,  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Saracen, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  have  been  and  are  to  be  merely  a 
passing  show?  Bach  has  left  something  here  but 
no  one  knows  what  or  how  much.  For  even  in 
the  days  when  Homer  and  Hellas  were  yet  unborn, 
Egypt,  old  and  wise  and  world-weary,  sat  brooding 
on  her  buried  treasures  like  the  dragon  Fafnir  on 
his  heap  of  gold. 


MEDICINE  AS  A   LEARNED   PROFESSION 


BY  JOHN  H.  BLODGETT,  1895,  M.   D.  1897 


To  state  the  question  in  debatable  form,  we  shall 
"Resolve  that  medicine  is  a  learned  profession," 
and  array  ourselves  on  the  affirmative  side  of  the 
argument.  Our  lines  of  thought  must  necessarily 
run  along  those  of  modern  scientific  inquiry  and 
achievement. 

We  find  exceeding  pleasure  in  the  consideration 
of  medicine  from  this  standpoint,  for  the  busy  prac- 
titioner is  too  familiar  with  the  adverse  view  often 
presented  by  the  uneducated  layman.  Medicine  of 
today  is  not  founded  upon  empiricism  or  upon  guess- 
work, but  rather  upon  the  facts  learned  from  most 
careful  scientific  investigations  and  observations  by 
an  army  of  trained  workers,  and  the  work  is  prose- 
cuted with  the  high  ideal  of  service  to  humanity  in 
the  preservation  and  betterment  of  mankind. 

We  cannot  deny  that  quackery  exists,  and  out- 
side of  the  regular  profession  is  ever  making  more 
extravagant  pretensions  in  forms  most  seductive  ; 
enough  so,  especially  in  mental  lines,  to  claim  the 

well-educated   and    influential,  who  may  be  found 
10 


&UFORN 


146  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

advocating  theories  entirely  subversive  of  reason 
and  contrary  to  the  experience  of  mankind  since 
the  foundation  of  the  world. 

Within  the  profession  also,  with  shame  be  it  said, 
are  those,  though  proportionately  few,  who  cannot 
rise  above  the  level  of  commercialism.  Our 
thought  is  not  with  these,  but  with  the  profession 
as  represented  by  him  who  day  and  night,  week- 
day and  Sunday,  comes  and  goes  at  your  bedside  ; 
who  at  instant  notice  and  without  special  prepara- 
tion steps  between  you  and  the  grim  destroyer  ; 
who  joins  you  in  the  long  night-vigils  and  at 
midnight  calls  the  "All's  well,"  or  strikes  the  note 
of  alarm  ;  who  conceals  his  own  apprehensions  the 
better  to  allay  yours  ;  and  who,  in  that  last  sad 
hour  when  man's  finiteness  is  only  too  apparent, 
by  quiet  deed  gives  comfort  when  all  speech  has 
failed. 

Medicine  is  a  learned  profession,  and  by  learning 
we  understand  all  those  forces  which  work  for  the 
cultivation  and  approximate  perfection  of  the  Soul, 
that  permanent  part  of  our  being  which  is  the 
source  of  knowing,  feeling  and  willing. 

First,  let  us  glance  at  the  view-point  of  modern 
medicine  when  contrasted  with  the  view-point  of 
the  so-called  learned  professions  of  Theology  and 
Law.  Due  apology  is  made,  my  brethren  of  these 
professions,  for  opinions  expressed,  but  in  the 
domain  of  Theology  we  cannot  see  it  otherwise  than 
that  the  student  stands  with   his   face   to  the  past, 


JOHN   H.    BLODGETT'S   ADDRESS  147 

and  necessarily  so.  The  teachings  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New,  the  formulations  and 
dicta  of  men,  must  be  his  compass  and  guide  ;  from 
these  he  may  not  depart.  With  back  to  the  morn- 
ing light,  he  is  asked  to  point  out  the  beauties  of 
the  sunrise.  If  science,  as  in  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion, shows  us  God's  plan  of  our  unfolding,  he  may 
not  accept  it,  but  must  spend  his  energies  preaching 
reconciliation  between  the  old  and  the  new  in  order 
to  bolster  up  an  antiquated  philosophy.  No  man 
can  object  to  fixedness  of  truth,  for  truth  is  immut- 
able, but  when  fixedness  of  interpretation  stands  in 
her  place  there  is  no  possible  progress. 

Happily,  brave  men  are  coming  forward  with 
faces  to  the  front.  They  bear  the  criticism  of 
denominations  and  the  persecutions  of  assemblies, 
but  there  is  no  false  note  in  the  ringing  of  their 
voices. 

In  Law,  the  judge  may  not  deliver  an  opinion 
independently,  that  injustice  and  crime  may  not 
triumph  in  the  land.  He  must  look  diligently  at 
the  past,  to  the  decisions  of  the  fathers  ;  musty 
volumes  must  furnish  a  principle  which,  though 
originally  limited,  can  be  stretched  forward  to  our 
time  ;  and  in  case  no  such  principle  can  be  found, 
what  helplessness  !  But  is  there  no  light  in  the 
distance  ?  Ah  yes  !  International  Law  is  alive, 
and  will  settle  its  problems  of  wireless  telegraphy 
in  modern  warfare  ;  Constitutional  Law  can  be 
heard  just  now   speaking   in  behalf    of   suffering 


148  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

humanity,  as  in  the  Merger  decision,  that  the 
wealth  of  the  few  shall  not  crush  to  earth  the 
necessity  of  the  many — a  grand  work  ;  but  with  the 
rank  and  file  progress  is  limited. 

It  is  with  relief  that  we  turn  again  to  the  view- 
point of  modern  medicine.  It  has  a  past.  We 
are  tremendously  indebted  to  it  and  grateful  for  it. 
In  it  there  is  nothing  of  hindrance.  That  past 
taught  error,  we  admit,  and  our  freedom  to  make 
such  admission  constitutes  the  guarantee  for  the 
possibility  of  future  progress.  Bleeding  has  had 
its  day.  The  principles  involved  can  be  better 
secured  by  other  methods,  and  that  closes  the  argu- 
ment. Individual  freedom  is  the  watchword.  Each 
man  is  an  independent  investigator  whose  findings 
will  be  tested  by  every  other  man.  To  his  aid  push 
forward  all  the  agencies  of  science  and  experience; 
the  laboratory  with  its  analytical  equipment,  the 
microscope  demonstrating  the  vast  hordes  of  animal 
and  vegetable  life  which  surround  us  ready  to  prey 
upon  our  vitals,  and  pointing  the  way  to  the  forces 
which  must  be  marshalled  against  them.  Com- 
missions, institutions  and  individuals  teach  us 
daily  regarding  the  benefits  or  dangers  existing  in 
air,  food,  water  or  soil.  No  man  is  tied  to,  or 
hampered  by,  the  past.  His  face  is  to  the  front, 
and  each  day  brings  more  new  facts  than  the  busy 
man  can  possibly  assimilate.  Precision  in  method 
and  exactness  in   result   is  the    requirement,  and 


JOHN   H.   BLODGETT'S   ADDRESS  149 

through'all  this  activity  just  now  runs  the  principle, 
"  Prove  all  things  ;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 

Can  any  profession  ask  for  better  environment  ? 
Some  one  has  said,  ' '  Genius  is  the  ability  and 
willingness  to  do  hard  work  ;"  one  other  condition 
is  needful  for  success,  namely,  opportunity, — and 
what  opportunities  are  ours  !  I  mention  only  one, 
— the  making  possible  proper  sanitary  conditions 
for  building  the  Panama  Canal.  This  feat  alone 
would  justify  the  existence  of  the  medical  fraternity 
for  all  time. 

We  have  generalized,  covering  the  view-point 
and  ideals  of  medicine  ;  although  not  so  interesting, 
let  us  particularize  upon  the  requirements  of  the 
profession.  It  is  freely  allowed  that  a  certain 
amount  of  knowledge  and  even  of  culture  is  neces- 
sary in  these  days  for  the  full  equipment  of  a 
medical  man.  An  able  writer  on  this  subject  has 
recently  declared  that  the  true  stumbling  block  in 
this  country  both  as  to  the  requirements  for 
entrance  upon  medical  study  and  for  that  study 
itself  is  the  lack  of  a  uniform  standard,  and  closes 
by  saying:  UA  fitting  slogan  for  the  American 
medical  profession  would  be,  '  Make  a  uniform  high 
standard  of  medical  and  literary  education  through- 
out the  country.  '  " 

We  have  represented  now  colleges  with  a  maxi- 
mum requirement  of  a  high-school  diploma,  and 
pass  all  the  way  up  to  that  of  a  college  degree  for 
entrance  to  a  medical  college.     In  no  line  of  work 


150  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

are  the  educational  requirements  higher  than  in  a 
first-class  medical  college,  and  they  may  be  stated 
as  follows: — six  years  of  home  training  for  the  child, 
nine  years  of  grade  work,  four  years  of  study  in 
high  school  or  academy,  four  years  of  academic 
training  in  college  and  the  same  length  of  time  in 
a  medical  college.  To  this  a  good  man  must  add 
two  years  of  practical  hospital  work.  Twenty-ume 
years  of  training  ;  and  for  the  favored  few  study 
abroad  is  added.  One-half  of  an  average  life  given 
to  preparation.  Few  of  us  would  complain,  how- 
ever, if  this  were  all  ;  but  when  the  schools  are 
through  with  the  medical  man  the  public  takes  him 
for  training,  and  in  the  smaller  communities  turns 
him  about  and  views  him  from  all  sides  for  about 
two  years  ;  the  larger  town  for  five  years  ;  and  the 
large  city  for  ten  years,  before  entrusting  to  him 
sufficient  responsibility  to  make  him  a  financial 
success.  These  last  years  are  not  the  least  im- 
portant of  his  training.  They  are  full  of  trials,  of 
disappointments,  of  self-denials,  of  courageous 
endeavor,  and  for  the  many,  of  final  success. 

Surely  it  is  not  an  extravagance,  for  a  profession 
thus  exacting  to  lay  claim  to  the  term  learned. 

Just  now  there  is  manifest  reaction  to  such  a 
rigid  requirement,  led  especially  by  President 
Butler  of  Columbia  and  President  Eliot  of  Harvard, 
on  the  ground  that  thirty-five  years  of  preparation 
puts  a  man  too  late  in  life  and  cuts  off  some  of  his 
most   productive  years.     Our  University  met  this 


JOHN   H.    BLODGETT'S   ADDRESS  151 

argument  years  ago,  and  the  writer  in  1895  enjoyed 
the  benefits  of  such  a  course,  without  which  a  col- 
lege training  would  have  been  impossible  for  him. 
We  believe  the  principle  to  be  a  correct  one. 

My  colleagues  of  other  professions  here  today 
will  no  doubt  be  thinking,  if  not  saying,  ' '  In  spite 
of  all  this  training,  medicine  is  not,  and  never  can 
become,  an  exact  science."  This  assertion  maybe 
true — in  a  sense,  but  to  accept  it  at  its  face  value 
would  be  gross  error. 

"  Because  man  goeth  to  his  long  home  and  the 
mourners  go  about  the  streets ;  or  ever  the  silver 
cord  be  loosed  or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken,  or  the 
pitcher  be  broken  at  the  fountain, or  the  wheel  broken 
at  the  cistern;  then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth 
as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who 
gave  it."  Here  is  the  duality  of  man,  the  material 
and  the  spiritual.  The  material,  whose  ongoing 
we  may  know,  subject  to  fixed  laws  as  to  birth, 
growth,  reproduction,  decline  and  death.  These 
laws  we  may  investigate  and  state  with  exactness. 
Likewise  deviations  from  these  laws.  Herein 
medicine  approaches  an  exact  science. 

Breathe  into  the  dust  the  breath  of  life,  and  what 
have  you  given?  Can  you  measure  it,  weigh  it? 
Can  you  state  it  in  terms  of  X+Y=A — a  known 
quantity,  and  always  with  the  same  value  ?  No : 
we  have  passed  from  a  creation  to  a  creato*'.  Man 
is  not  only  "  heir  to  all  the  ages,"  but  u  joint-heir 
with  Christ."     He  is  an  originating,   a  creative, 


152  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

force,  free- willed,  and  as  such  never  can  be  stated 
in  terms  of  scientific  exactness.  Herein  lies  not 
onlv  the  difficulty  but  the  beauty  and  the  possibility 
of  medicine,  and  woe  is  to  him  who  forgets  this 
duality  of  man's  nature. 

A  glance  at  the  methods  of  securing  evidence  in 
disease,  and  a  sample  of  the  reasoning  involved,  may 
be  helpful.  The  examination  into  man's  material 
organism  for  faulty  mechanism  is  not  a  search  at 
random,  but  a  well  organized  study  of  each  organ 
in  its  turn.  We  investigate  the  social  history,  the 
family  history,  where  heredity  c<  visits  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  even  unto  the 
third  and  fourth  generations,"  the  past  medical 
history,  and  lastly  a  history  of  the  present  disease. 
Next  follows  a  careful  physical  examination  cover- 
ing the  whole  body.  This  physical  examination 
we  verify  in  our  laboratory  examination,  chemical 
and  microscopical,  of  the  various  fluids  and  excreta 
of  the  body. 

The  medical  mind  is  logical,  not  primarily  cir- 
cumstantial. The  diagnosis  may  be  from  historical 
facts  learned,  objective  symptoms,  subjective  symp- 
toms ;  or  again,  the  revelations  of  the  laboratory, 
upon  which  so  much  of  our  recent  progress  depends. 
As  an  example  of  this  take  the  Widal  reaction  for 
typhoid  fever.  The  patient  is  clearly  very  ill ; 
historical,  objective,  subjective  and  physical  ex- 
amination leave  us  in  doubt.  Blood  is  drawn  from 
the  patient  and  the  serum  mixed    with    a    proper 


JOHN   H.    BLODGETT'S   ADDRESS  153 

amount  of  pure  typhoid  culture  from  the  laboratory. 
Upon  examination  of  the  microscopic  field  a  half- 
hour  later,  the  typhoid  organisms  are  found  piled 
up  in  heaps,  dead  ;  and  we  say  the  patient  has 
typhoid.  What  is  the  reasoning?  Germs  of  disease 
living  upon  a  tissue  of  the  body  excrete  in  process 
of  their  own  nutrition  a  poison  called  a  toxin  ;  to 
overcome  the  action  of  this  poison  nature  produces 
in  the  circulation  an  antidote  called  antitoxin. 
This  kills  the  germs,  neutralizes  their  poison  and 
thus  stops  disease. 

We  turn  again  to  our  microscope.  The  germs 
are  dead;  the  antitoxin  of  typhoid  blood  must  have 
killed  them.  We  have  the  presence  of  an  antitoxin; 
this  presupposes  a  toxin;  the  toxin  presupposes 
the  organism  which  produces  the  same,  or  typhoid 
germ  ;  hence  the  patient  has  typhoid  fever.  There 
is  nothing  especially  poetic  about  this,  but  it  is 
scientific,  and  with  given  conditions,  exact;  and 
hence  exact  science,  and  that  well  within  the 
province  of  chemical  medicine. 

This  paper  would  not  be  complete  without  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  progress  made  in  matters 
medical  during  the  last  third  of  the  century  just 
closed. 

Pasteur  in  his  researches  paved  the  way  for  Lister 
to  revolutionize  surgery  in  1860  by  his  demonstra- 
tion of  the  germ  in  relation  to  wound  infection. 
Antiseptic  surgery  began  ;  out  of  antiseptic  surgery 
grew  logically  aseptic  surgery,  or  perfect  cleanliness 


154  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

before  and  during  operation.  Bacteriology  thus 
received  its  great  impetus  and  about  1880  gave  us 
definite  knowledge  of  the  germs  responsible  for 
some  of  the  common  diseases;  as  typhoid,  diphtheria, 
septicemia  and  pyemia.  Later,  malaria  and  dysen- 
tery, and  very  recently  yellow  fever  has  been  added. 
Councilman  now  seems  in  a  fair  way  to  demon- 
strate the  germ  of  small  pox. 

With  these  discoveries  have  gone  perfected 
methods  and  instruments  for  chemical  and  micro- 
scopic work,  new  chemical  methods  of  great  delicacy. 
The  laboratory  is  growing  and  studying  the  known 
germs,  their  toxins  and  possible  antitoxins.  The 
possibility  of  serum  therapeutics  is  fully  demonstra- 
ted ;  its  control  over  that  awful  disease  diphtheria 
is  one  of  the  priceless  gifts  to  mankind.  Our  fond 
hope  is  to  add  tuberculosis,  typhoid,  pneumonia  and 
dysentery  to  this  list,  and  much  has  already  been 
accomplished.  The  X-ray  has  come  to  aid  the 
physician  and  surgeon  in  diagnosis,  and  for  curative 
effects  to  some  extent.  The  study  of  tuberculosis 
in  the  last  five  years  has  done  much  to  stay  the 
death  of  a  hundred  thousand  per  year  for  this  nation. 
It  has  established  sanitaria,  emphasized  the  value 
of  fresh  air,  sunlight  and  wholesome  food. 

Cities  have  undertaken  tenement  reform.  They 
have  given  us  the  floating  hospital  for  the  babe, 
and  the  fresh-air  fund  for  the  children,  in  which 
the  country  heartily  cooperates.  The  milk  com- 
mission of  New  York  is  perhaps  one  of  the   latest 


JOHN   H.   BLODGETT'S   ADDRESS  155 

manifestations  of  this  activity.  Finsen  has  given 
ns  his  valuable  contribution  as  to  the  value  of  light 
in  the  cure  of  tuberculosis  of  the  skin  and  allied 
complaints.  Photography  and  electricity  have  each 
contributed  their  part.  In  the  study  of  blood,  the 
various  forms  of  anemia  and  malaria  ;  in  feliaria  and 
typhoid,  the  germs  are  demonstrable,  and  proper 
measures  for  their  control  are  well  under  way.  In 
medicine,  more  especially  heredity,  predisposition, 
faulty  metabolism ,  neurasthenia  and  allied  nervous 
diseases  which  are  the  product  of  the  strenuous  life, 
have  received  attention.  Therapeutics  has  been 
greatly  improved,  thanks  to  the  valuable  work  of 
our  large  drug  houses.  Hypnotism  and  mental 
suggestion  beckon  us  on.  The  appendix  has  not 
been  ignored ;  cancer  is  today  receiving  the  earnest 
attention  of  investigators  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic ;  and  the  wonders  of  radium  lead  us  to 
believe  that  almost  any  feat  is   possible  to  science. 

To  summarize  then  :  we  have  considered  the  view- 
point and  the  ideals  of  medicine ;  the  preparation 
and  training  required  for  the  profession  ;  the  possi- 
bility for  medicine  as  an  exact  science  ;  the  methods 
of  securing  evidence  of  disease;  and  the  exact 
scientific  reasoning  connected  with  the  same  ;  and 
lastly,  we  have  glanced  at  the  mountain  peaks  of 
progress  in  medicine  for  the  last  thirty  years. 

We  submit  that  we  have  given  you  a  pen  picture 
of  an  army  of  learners,  worthy  in  the  results  already 
accomplished,  and  in  promise  to  be  called  learned 
in  the  practice  of  medicine. 


THE   INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
IN  THE  FIELD  OF  AGRICULTURE 


The  university  has  influenced  agriculture  by 
inspiring  it  with  its  own  spirit  of  positive,  exact  and 
related  knowledge,  and  by  applying  to  it  the 
methods  of  science.  The  aim  and  the  result  have 
been  to  make  agricultural   practice  more   rational. 

The  instrument  of  agriculture  in  the  production 
of  crops  -and  animals  is  culture,  which  is  the 
supplying  of  conditions  favorable  for  growth, 
whether  for  normal  development  as  in  the  case  of 
cultivated  field  grasses,  or  for  a  development  not  in 
accord  with  the  natural  tendency  of  the  plant,  as  in 
the  blanching  of  celery.  But  before  these  condi- 
tions can  be  intelligently  supplied,  the  culturist 
must  know  what  they  are,  and  this  is  learned  by 
examining  the  conditions  of  plant  growth.  These 
conditions  must  be  analyzed  and  their  elements 
defined.  The  particular  effect  of  each  element  on 
the  plant  must  be  known,  as  also  its  relative  im- 
portance in  the  plant's  economy.  It  is  necessary 
to  know  which  conditions  are  indispensable,  which 


VINTON   A.    CLARK'S   ADDRESS.  157 

are  of  incidental  effect  and  which  are  without  effect; 
and  those  that  are  favorable  must  be  distinguished 
from  those  that  are  unfavorable.  It  must  be  known 
within  what  range  of  intensity  each  condition  is  of 
effect  on  the  plant,  what  are  the  minimum  and  the 
maximum  intensities  compatible  with  its  life  and 
growth,  and  what  degree  of  intensity  is  most  favor- 
able to  it.  The  interrelations  of  conditions,  as  far 
as  they  affect  the  plant,  must  also  be  known. 

In  order  then  intelligently  to  devise  or  to  pre- 
scribe a  cultural  method  it  must  be  known  what 
particular  conditions  are  concerned  in  producing 
the  desired  result,  in  what  degree  each  condition  is 
active,  and  the  effects  of  the  different  conditions  on 
each  other.  That  is,  each  of  the  elementary  con- 
ditions must  be  known  qualitatively,  quantitatively 
and  interrelationally. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  the  university  comes  into 
relation  with  agriculture.  The  scientist  analyses 
the  conditions  which  he  finds  in  nature  and  describes 
them,  he  measures  them,  he  determines  the  bounds 
of  their  activity,  he  notes  their  effects  on  the  plant 
and  determines  what  degree  of  activity  is  most 
beneficial  to  it.  He  determines  the  effect  of  each 
condition  on  attendant  conditions  and  their  com- 
bined effect  on  the  plant.  When  the  scientist  has 
done  this,  relations  between  the  university  and  the 
culturist  are  at  an  end. 

The  culturist  takes  the  results  furnished  him  by 
the  university  and  goes  with  them  to  the  technical 


158  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 

school.  If  this  is  connected  with  the  university,  or 
if  the  scientist  turns  technician,  it  does  not  matter. 
The  logical  distinction  remains. 

In  the  technical  school  the  culturist  devises 
means  of  realizing  the  theoretical  or  ideal  conditions 
which  the  scientist  informed  him  were  necessary  to 
the  attainment  of  the  desired  development. 

Suppose  he  wishes  to  cultivate  a  plant  which  re- 
quires a  rather  high  percentage  of  moisture  in  the 
soil,  and  suppose  that  rainfall  is  deficient.  Perhaps 
the  culturist  will  try  growing  the  plant  on  a  clay 
soil,  which  holds  more  water  than  does  sand,  and 
holds  it  longer.  Perhaps  he  will  select  a  site 
where  the  ground  water  comes  near  the  surface  and 
thus  constantly  keeps  the  soil  moist  from  below. 
Perhaps  he  will  try  applying  water  to  his  land 
artificially,  that  is,  will  try  irrigating  it.  Perhaps 
he  will  try  to  economize  his  present  store  of  soil 
moisture  by  preventing  as  far  as  possible  its  escape 
from  the  soil,  and  hence  will  cultivate  frequently 
to  lessen  the  rise  of  water  by  capillarity,  or  will 
apply  a  mulch,  or  will  build  a  windbreak  to  lessen 
the  drying-out  of  the  soil  by  the  wind. 

All  of  these  devices  are  means  for  attaining  an 
end.  They  are  not  matters  of  science — the  under- 
standing of  things — but  of  technics,  of  adaptation, 
of  the  fitting  of  things  together.  They  are  simply 
instrumentalities  or  expedients  by  which  knowledge 
is  made  effective  in  the  practical  world.  They  are 
the  bridges  between  the  realms  of  theory  and  prac- 


VINTON   A.    CLARK'S   ADDRESS.  159 

tice,  without  the  existence  of  both  of  which  realms 
thev  would  have  no  value  and  no  occasion  for  being. 
They  are  nothing-  in  themselves  and  their  only- 
usefulness  attaches  to  their  suitability  for  dealing 
with  the  conditions  that  they  are  designed  to  meet. 

How  irrational  then  is  it  to  attempt  to  bring 
about  an  adaptation  without  knowing  what  it  is 
that  is  to  be  adapted  !  How  illogical  to  undertake 
to  devise  a  treatment  when  the  conditions  to  be 
treated  are  not  understood  !  How  incompetent  is 
technic  without  theory  !  And  if  a  blind  experi- 
menter attempt  to  instruct  an  uninformed  prac- 
titioner, can  an  intelligent  practice  be  the  outcome  ? 
If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  shall  they  not  both  fall 
into  the  ditch  ? 

It  is  in  this  matter  of  method  that  the  man  with 
scientific  training — the  university  man — differs  from 
the  non-scientific  man.  Both  deal  with  the  same 
material  and  both  aim  at  the  same  result ;  they 
simply  use  different  methods.  The  university  man 
analyses  his  subject  and  thus  at  the  outset  puts 
himself  in  possession  of  an  understanding  of  it. 
He  uses  exact  methods,  and  by  a  logically  connected 
process  he  reaches  a  conclusion  both  independent 
and  sure.  From  the  standpoint  of  investigation  he 
is  in  a  position  to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  knowledge, 
for  he  can  resolve  that  which  is  known  into  its 
elements,  and  therefrom  can  reconstruct  something 
different  and  previously  unknown. 


160  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

The  non-scientific  man  does  not  analyse  his  sub- 
ject. He  does  not  consciously  draw  out  the  argu- 
mentative grounds  for  his  judgment,  but  makes  his 
decisions  by  virtue  of  a  practiced  instinct  or  an 
acquired  tact.  He  can  make  simple  comparisons 
and  may  through  native  ingenuity  suggest  new 
devices ;  but  on  account  of  dealing  with  things 
only  as  wholes  and  not  with  their  elements,  he  can 
simply  bring  out  points  of  agreement  and  difference, 
and  thus  furnish  a  basis  for  selecting  from  among 
those  things  already  known  such  as  are  adapted  to 
stated  purposes.  Not  having  analyzed  his  subject, 
he  cannot  reconstruct  from  its  elements  anything 
new,  and  hence  his  efforts  are  restricted  to  the 
sphere  of  the  known. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  influence  of  the  uni- 
versity on  agriculture  is  due  fundamentally  to  its 
having  trained  agricultural  investigators  in  meth- 
ods of  analysis. 

Aside  from  the  practical  service  of  the  university 
to  agriculture  in  assisting  it  to  improve  its  material 
condition,  the  university  renders  also  another 
service  which,  although  theoretical,  should  not  be 
overlooked. 

In  pursuance  of  its  efforts  to  rationalize  practice 
it  is  constantly  working  out  explanations  of  phe- 
nomena or  practices  which  in  many  cases  do  not 
admit  of  any  practical  application.  Yet  such  effort 
cannot  be  counted  as  lost,  for  the  explanation  at 
least  helps  to  satisfy  the   innate  desire  of  man    to 


VINTON   A.    CLARK'S   ADDRESS.  161 

know  the  reasons  for  things,  his  longing  for  a 
harmonious  idea  of  the  world.  This  theoretical 
need,  this  desire  to  understand  things  simply  for 
the  sake  of  understanding  them  and  without  expec- 
tation of  any  practical  benefit,  is  distinctive  of 
civilized  man ;  and  the  desire  increases  as  civiliza- 
tion increases.  It  is  a  measure  of  intellectuality, 
and  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  of  civilization. 
The  more  an  occupation  increases  in  intellectuality, 
the  higher  it  rises  in  the  social  scale  and  the 
greater  the  honor  it  receives.  Agriculture  is 
already  beginning  to  experience  this  social  benefit. 
And  to  the  university  must  be.  given  the  most  of 
the  credit  for  the  result. 

In  setting  forth  the  influence  of  the  university 
on  agriculture  I  have  described  something  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Agricultural  Department  of  our  own 
university.  In  its  research  department,  the  experi- 
ment station,  it  has  made  the  most  comprehensive 
investigations  of  diseases  of  the  potato  ever  carried 
out.  Four  disorders,  not  previously  differentiated, 
were  distinguished  and  described,  the  nature  of 
each  worked  out  and  the  appropriate  treatments 
suggested.  A  rot  of  the  carrot  of  bacterial  origin 
was  similarly  described  and  investigated.  In  this 
work,  as  also  in  an  investigation  of  the  intimate 
nature  of  a  soft-rot  of  the  turnip  and  related  plants, 
definite  contributions  were  made  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  theory  of  enzymes  as  well  as  to  the  funda- 
11 


162  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

mentals  of  plant  pathology  in  one  of  its  newer 
departments. 

In  dairy  investigations  the  Vermont  experiment 
station  ranks  among  the  first  in  America.  It  has 
probably  done  more  than  any  other  station  in  the 
country  in  the  development  of  methods  looking 
to  the  improvement  of  the  technique  of  feeding 
experimentation  with  milch  cows. 

The  Station  inaugurated  a  crusade  against  bovine 
tuberculosis  which  has  resulted  in  the  testing  of  a 
larger  percentage  of  the  cattle  in  this  state  than  in 
any  other  state  in  the  Union. 

The  general  self -sterility  of  varieties  of  plums 
was  first  demonstrated  at  this  station  and  resulted 
in  the  introduction  of  a  new  cultural  practice,  the 
mixed  planting  of  varieties  of  plums  with  a  view  to 
cross-pollination . 

The  Station  has  recently  issued  a  monumental 
work  on  the  phenomena  of  maple-sap  flow.  This 
is  a  comprehensive  investigation,  both  physiologi- 
cal and  chemical,  analytical  and  quantitative,  of 
the  conditions  underlying  the  practice  of  maple- 
sugar  making.  In  this  work  important  contribu- 
tions were  made  at  once  to  the  theory  of  the 
movement  of  sap  in  trees  and  to  the  culture  of 
maple  trees  with  a  view  to  sap  production.  This 
investigation  marked  an  advance  into  entirely  new 
territory.  It  had  no  model  and  it  has  no  counter- 
part. 


VINTON  A.   CLARK'S   ADDRESS.  163 

In  the  classroom  the  Agricultural  Department 
has  at  all  times  held  aloft  before  its  students  the 
ideal  toward  which  itself  strives — the  ideal  of 
rational  procedure.  It  reiterates  the  wise  words  of 
the  wisest  of  men,  "With  all  thy  getting  get 
understanding. ' '  It  emphasizes  the  importance  of 
mind-stuff.  It  does  not  neglect  technique,  but  it 
places  scholarship  ahead  of  it.  It  aims  to  make 
thinkers  rather  than  technicians,  leaders  rather 
than  lieutenants.  It  has  turned  out  men  trained 
in  its  own  ways  and  filled  with  its  own  spirit ;  and 
this  training  has  been  effective,  for,  excluding  post- 
graduate students  from  the  reckoning,  probably  as 
great  or  a  greater  percentage  of  agricultural  grad- 
uates of  Vermont  than  of  any  other  American  agri- 
cultural institution  are  engaged  in  investigation 
work.  Quietly  but  persistently,  by  example  more 
than  by  precept,  with  a  patience  more  effective 
than  strenuousness,  the  Agricultural  Department 
of  our  University  has  stood  for  this  principle. 
Agriculture  is  primarily  Man-culture. 


THE  ALUMNI  BREAKFAST 


THE  ALUMNI  BREAKFAST 


At  the  close  of  the  repast  the  President  of  the 
Alumni,  the  Hon.  John  H.  Converse,  asked  the 
attention  of  the  assembly  and  said : 

Brothers  and  Sisters  of  the  Associated  Alumni: 

I  welcome  you  to  this  our  centennial  gathering, 
and  I  congratulate  the  many  centenarians  around 
these  tables  on  their  youth  and  good  looks.  It  is 
pleasant  to  gather  again  at  this  Alumni  breakfast, 
which  is  becoming  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
important  of  our  commencement  occasions.  I  am 
reminded  of  an  incident  at  a  function  of  the  cele- 
brated Clover  Club  of  my  city.  The  speaker  got 
to  his  feet  and  began  by  saying,  ' '  What  shall  I 
talk  about?"  Some  one  replied,  "about  two 
minutes."  That  is  precisely  my  position  this 
morning.  I  must  not  take  up  your  time,  as  there 
are  others  with  us  who  will  take  the  opportunity  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  progress  of  our  University. 

It  is  a  feature  of  our  gatherings  that  we  come 
back  home,  renewing  the  old  associations  which 
still  linger  in  our  hearts.  Those  who  have  fre- 
quently been  here  are  perhaps  best  able  to  remind 
us  of  all  the  agreeable  associations  of  college  days  ; 


168  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

so,  as  the  first  speaker  whose  message  will  carry  us 
back  to  the  time  when  we  were  undergraduates,  I 
take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Hon.  H. 
W.  Hill,  state  senator  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

SENATOR   HILL'S   SPEECH 

Mr.  President,  Invited  Guests,  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men of  (lie  Alumni : 

This  is  the  most  auspicious  occasion  on  which 
the  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Vermont  have  ever 
assembled.  It  is  not  only  the  end  of  the  century 
but  the  beginning  of  a  new  century  in  the  life  of 
our  beloved  Alma  Mater.  If  we  were  to  recount 
today  the  notable  events  which  have  characterized 
her  history,  if  we  were  to  enumerate  the  achieve- 
ments of  her  loyal  sons  and  daughters,  if  we  were 
to  recall  the  steps  that  have  marked  her  progress 
in  all  departments,  time  would  not  suffice  to 
mention  more  than  a  few  of  them.  Undoubtedly 
this  will  be  done  by  others  in  a  more  formal 
manner. 

On  such  an  occasion  as  this  we  may  be  interested 
to  know  something  about  the  proceedings  of  the 
Fiftieth  anniversary.  There  presided  over  parts 
of  those  proceedings  the  Hon.  Jacob  Collamer,  a 
lawyer  without  a  peer  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
The  Historical  Discourse  was  given  by  a  former 
president  of  the  University,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Wheeler ;  it  embodied  a  clear  statement  of  the 
acts  leading  up  to  the   incorporation  of  the  Uni- 


HENRY    W.    HILL'S    SPEECH  169 

versity  and  of  its  struggle  through  the  first  fifty 
years  of  its  existence.  The  Orator  was  the  Hon. 
James  R.  Spalding,  the  founder  of  the  New  York 
World,  whose  brother,  Rev.  George  B.  Spalding, 
graces  this  breakfast,  the  man  who  last  Sunday 
evening  delivered  the  address  before  the  University 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  The  Poet 
was  the  bard  of  Grand  Isle  County,  the  Rev.  O. 
G.  Wheeler,  whose  son  and  grandsons  are  present 
in  this  assemblage  (applause).  There  were  pres- 
ent many  distinguished  alumni,  such  as  Professor 
Calvin  Pease,  afterwards  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  the  Hon.  Henry  J.  Raymond,  the 
founder  and  brilliant  editor  of  the  New  York 
Times,  whose  necessary  frugality  in  college  was  no 
discouragement,  but  rather  a  spur  to  his  industry. 
Many  other  educators  and  public  spirited  alumni 
participated  in  the  proceedings,  which  were  digni- 
fied, instructive  and  impressive. 

We  are  equally  fortunate  on  this  occasion  in 
having  with  us  such  distinguished  alumni  as  the 
Hon.  John  A.  Kasson  of  the  class  of  1842,  a  pub- 
licist of  wide  renown,  Hon.  George  G.  Benedict 
of  the  class  of  1847,  Hon.  Robert  D.  Benedict 
of  the  class  of  1848,  Hon.  Henry  A.  Burt  and 
Rev.  Charles  C.  Torrey  of  the  class  of  1849,  Presi- 
dent Matthew  H.  Buckham  of  the  class  of  1851, 
Rev.  Joseph  Torrey  of  the  class  of  1852,  Prof.  John 
E.  Goodrich  of  the  class  of  1853  and  Dr.  Philo  J. 
Farns worth  of  the  class  of  1854.     Every  class  that 


170  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

has  been  graduated  in  the  last  half -century,  except 
those  of  1866  and  1872,  is  represented  by  one  or 
more  of  its  members  at  this  hundredth  anniversary. 
Fifty  years  ago  the  classes  were  much  smaller  than 
they  are  now.  Then  the  membership  rarely 
exceeded  twenty-five  ;  now  it  exceeds  one  hundred. 
Then  the  faculty  was  small ;  now  it  numbers 
nearly  forty  professors  and  instructors.  Then 
there  were  but  two  or  three  buildings  :  now  there 
are  a  half-dozen  or  more  well-built,  modern  college 
buildings,  most  of  which  have  been  erected  since 
Dr.  Buckham  became  president  of  the  University 
in  1871.  These  afford  some  indication  of  the 
growth  of  the  institution,  which  is  fast  assuming 
the  proper  proportions  of  a  University.  The 
amplification  and  equipment  of  new  departments 
and  the  wide  range  of  courses  pursued  by  under- 
graduates are  further  evidences  of  this. 

The  site  of  this  University  is  one  of  the  most 
delightful  spots  in  America.  President  McCosh 
once  said  that  it  appeared  to  be  providentially  de- 
signed as  the  seat  of  a  great  University.  To  the 
casual  observer  it  would  appear  that  the  designs  of 
providence  are  fast  being  carried  out,  for  already  the 
campus  is  nearly  surrounded  with  well  equipped 
modern  college  buildings.  If  providence  designed 
this  spot  as  the  seat  of  a  great  University,  provi- 
dence also  adorned  it  with  superb  natural  scenery. 
Ira  Allen,  the  founder  of  the  University,  was  no 
doubt   impressed  by  its  grandeur,  when  he  chose 


HENRY    W.    HILL'S    SPEECH  171 

this  site.  The  stately  Green  Mountains  in  the 
East,  and  the  rugged  Adirondacks  in  the  West, 
separated  by  the  blue  waters  of  Lake  Champlain, 
with  all  the  play  of  light  and  shade  and  drifting 
clouds,  made  on  his  mind,  as  on  that  of  others  ever 
since,  an  impression  that  was  not  to  pass  away. 
Poets  and  painters  have  tried  in  vain  to  portray 
this  scene. 

"O  matchless  splendors  !  never  sung  nor  told, 

Now  golden  purple,  now  empurpled  gold  ! 

O'er  mount  and  plain  the  heavens  their  tints  diffuse, 

And  tinge  the  waves  with  iridescent  hues. 

And  now,  when  slowly  fades  departing  day, 

The  moon,  full-orbed,  walks  her  celestial  way, 

And  bathing  all  things  in  her  silver  light, 

Prolongs  the  beauty  through  the  slumbering  night." 

Students  delight  to  dwell  amid  such  scenes  as 
these,  which  cannot  fail  to  awaken  a  love  for  the 
beautiful  and  the  sublime. 

This  occasion  is  also  fortunate  in  that  it  brings 
together  many  classmen  of  former  years.  All 
cannot  be  present,  for  some  have  passed  away. 
Others  are  in  distant  lands,  but  many  are  here  to 
add  their  tribute  of  devotion  to  their  Alma  Mater, 
and  to  encourage  those  immediately  charged  with 
the  responsibility  of  maintaining  the  high  standing 
of  this  University  in  letters,  in  science  and  in  the 
"arts  that  beautify  and  polish  life."  They  are 
here  to  show  their  high  regard  for  the  members  of 
the  Faculty  of  the  University. 


172  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Some  of  the  professors  who  were  here  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  years  ago  are  with  us  no  more.  How 
keenly  do  those  who  studied  under  Professors 
Petty,  Barbour  andTorrey  feel  their  loss  !  But  we 
still  have  with  us  our  beloved  President,  Professor 
Goodrich,  Professor  Perkins,  and  others  ;  and  may 
they  long  live  to  continue  their  good  work  in  this 
University!    (Applause). 

Our  alumni  cannot  all  be  present  for  they  are 
widely  scattered.  One  is  directing  the  operations 
of  a  mining  corporation  in  South  Africa.  Another 
is  superintending  the  construction  of  a  subway  in 
London.  Others  are  filling  responsible  positions 
in  this  and  other  countries.  They  are  to  be  found 
in  nearly  every  state,  and  wherever  they  chance  to 
be,  they  are  serving  humanity  in  some  laudable 
way  and  putting  into  practical  operation  the  prin- 
ciples taught  in  some  department  of  this  Uni- 
versity. Their  sphere  of  sendee  and  usefulness 
has  been  wide.  The  alumni  of  this  University 
have  included  a  vice-president  of  the  United  States, 
a  cabinet  minister,  several  United  States  senators 
and  members  of  Congress,  a  United  States  minister 
to  a  foreign  court,  several  army  and  navy  officers 
and  governors  of  this  and  other  states,  many  state 
senators  and  representatives,  several  judges  and 
mayors  of  cities,  fourteen  college  presidents,  more 
than  a  hundred  college  professors,  many  lawyers, 
clergymen,  physicians,  teachers,  editors,  engineers, 
chemists,    scientists,    and   many   scores   of    enter- 


HENRY    W.    HILL'S    SPEECH  173 

prising  business  men.  Who  is  bold  enough  to 
undertake  to  estimate  the  value  of  their  work,  or  to 
measure  the  scope  of  their  influence  upon  their 
contemporaries  ?  Many  of  these  came  from  the 
rural  districts  of  this  State.  Some  came  from 
frugal  homes,  where  economy  had  to  be  practiced 
and  where  the  sacrifices  made  by  their  relatives 
and  friends,  that  they  might  acquire  a  liberal  edu- 
cation, were  not  inconsiderable.  Many  an  elder 
brother  or  sister  did  what  he  or  she  was  able  to  do 
to  help  along  a  deserving  student ;  and  this  Uni- 
versity now  numbers  among  its  alumni  many  such 
worthy  graduates.  An  education  acquired  under 
such  conditions  is  not  likely  to  prove  valueless. 

There  are  those  seated  about  these  tables,  who 
were  here  when  the  perpetuity  of  the  University 
was  in  doubt.  Fortunately  it  passed  the  crisis  and 
today  stands  so  firm  that  neither  civil  commotion 
nor  political  strife  can  disturb  its  security.  It  is 
one  of  the  smaller  colleges,  but  its  advantages  over 
some  larger  institutions  of  learning  may  be  the 
better  understood  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
students  in  this  University  come  into  daily  contact 
with  its  professors.  No  student  of  Professors 
Petty,  Barbour,  or  Torrey,  would  now  exchange 
his  experience  under  such  an  instructor  for  all  the 
glamour  of  a  larger  college.  Personal  contact  with 
such  instructors  affords  just  that  mental  and  moral 
equipment  which  is  needed  to  make  a  college  career 
of  inestimable  benefit.     This  relationship  between 


174  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

teacher  and  pupil  partakes  of  the  nature  of  what 
Bacon  denominates  "  the  second  fruit  of  friend- 
ship," which  he  says  "is  healthful  and  sovereign 
for  the  understanding-."  This  University  from 
its  inception  has  had  a  strong  Faculty  of  able 
and  learned  professors,  the  impress  of  whose  work 
and  lives  has  been  both  beneficent  and  far  reaching. 
We  believe  that  the  University  is  about  to  receive 
a  substantial  impetus,  that  will  enable  it  to  go  for- 
ward in  its  career  of  usefulness  along  still  broader 
lines  and  with  greater  ease  than  its  finances  have 
hitherto  permitted.  We  all  realize  that  the  Uni- 
versity is  in  need  of  increased  revenues.  We  are 
to  have  to-day  the  report  of  the  Committee  in 
charge  of  raising  the  Endowment  Fund.  While 
that  does  not  show  as  large  an  amount  raised  as  is 
desired,  still  it  is  a  good  beginning  towards  the 
total  sum  to  be  raised. 

An  examination  of  the  resources  of  European 
universities  discloses  such  facts  as  these: — that 
Berne  College  in  Switzerland  receives  annually 
about  $120,000  towards  the  education  of  its  800 
students  ;  Heidelberg  University  with  its  1,200 
students  receives  yearly  about  $185,000  ;  Vienna 
University  with  its  6,000  students  receives  annually 
$500,000,  and  Berlin  University  with  its  10,000  to 
12,000  students  receives  annually  $600,000.  These 
annual  appropriations  are  in  excess  of  tuition  and 
revenue  from  endowments,  and  average  from  $150 
to  $250  for  each  student.     I   call  attention  to  this 


HENRY    W.    HILL'S    SPEECH  175 

to  show  what  is  being  done  in  other  countries  for 
higher  education. 

Onrs  is  not  the  only  institution  that  has  been 
obliged  to  appeal  to  a  patriotic,  sympathetic  and 
refined  sentiment  for  financial  aid.  Many  other 
American  colleges  have  made  similar  appeals  and 
generous  responses  have  been  made.  This  shows 
that  the  American  people  are  quite  as  liberal  in 
their  treatment  of  educational  institutions  as  are 
Europeans.  But  there  is  this  difference,  that 
although  American  colleges  are  of  prime  import- 
ance to  the  State,  they  are  left  more  to  private 
benefactions  and  personal  bequests.  It  is  a  well 
known  fact  that  most  scientific  investigations  and 
researches  are  conducted  in  such  institutions,  or 
under  the  supervision  of  their  professors,  without 
expense  to  the  State.  The  State,  however,  is 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  results  and  by  law 
enforce  compliance  with  recommendations  made, 
and  this  is  done  avowedly  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  of  the  State. 

All  branches  of  business  are  more  or  less  depend- 
ent upon  improved  methods  and  processes,  the 
outgrowth  of  invention  and  scientific  investigation, 
which  is  undertaken,  or  the  results  of  which  are 
communicated,  through  technical  schools,  colleges 
and  universities.  These  institutions  therefore  are 
important  factors  in  the  dissemination  of  useful 
information  in  this  utilitarian  age,  when  analyses 
and  syntheses,  integrals  and  differentials,  original 


176  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

and  by-products  enter  so  extensively  into  industrial 
and  commercial  problems.  How  are  these  insti- 
tutions, with  their  ever  increasing  expenses  due  to 
new  scientific  apparatus  and  other  necessary  equip- 
ment of  new  departments,  to  continue,  if  neither 
business  enterprises,  nor  the  State  contributes  any- 
thing to  their  maintenance?  They  ought  not  to 
be  wholly  dependent  upon  private  donations  and 
endowment  funds.  They  serve  a  public  purpose 
and  may  well  be  treated  accordingly.  It  may  be 
some  time  before  the  public  can  be  made  to  appre- 
ciate this  fact  and  deal  generously  with  public 
educational  institutions.  In  the  meantime  indi- 
vidual gifts  must  be  solicited.  We  wish  to  raise 
a  million  dollars  to  support  this  University  and 
provide  additional  instruction  in  its  overcrowded 
departments.  We  alumni  may  not  be  able  to  give 
all  that  we  would  like  to  give,  but  we  may  encour- 
age or  induce  some  friend  of  learning,  or  some 
patron  of  higher  education,  to  contribute  a  portion 
of  his  fortune  towards  endowing  this  institution, 
where  young  men  and  young  women  may  receive 
the  instruction  they  desire. 

Mr.  President,  if  this  University  were  to  receive 
one  per  cent,  of  $33,570,892,  the  value  of  the  agri- 
cultural products  of  this  state  for  the  year  1S99,  or 
one  per  cent,  of  $57,623,815,  the  value  of  the 
manufactured  products  of  this  state  for  the  same 
year,  it  would  form  a  substantial  part  of  the  re- 
mainder of  the  $1,000,000  endowment  fund  sought 


HENRY    W.    HILL'S    SPEECH  177 

to  be  raised ;  if  it  were  to  receive  one  per  cent,  of 
these  two  aggregate  values,  that  would  exceed  the 
remainder  of  such  endowment  fund.  One  per  cent, 
of  the  value  of  the  manufactured  products  produced 
in  this  country  would  be  sufficient  to  maintain  all 
its  technical  schools,  colleges  and  universities. 

Can  it  be  that  manufacturers,  who  accumulate 
fortunes  as  a  result  of  important  discoveries  and 
the  application  of  scientific  formulae,  such  as  the 
Perkin's  Synthesis,  will  not  respond  to  the  de- 
mands made  upon  them  to  aid  in  making  possible 
further  important  investigations  and  discoveries? 
The  captains  of  industry  must  be  made  to  under- 
stand that  their  business  interests  will  flourish  in 
proportion  to  the  skill  and  physical  research  which 
are  put  into  them,  and  that  such  skill  and  research 
come  from  technical  schools,  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. 

Well,  I  have  said  enough,  Mr.  President.  There 
are  not  many  of  us  who  are  likely  to  be  here  one 
hundred  years  hence.  Let  us  make  the  most  of 
this  celebration.  Let  us  acquaint  our  friends  with 
this  University  in  all  its  departments.  Let  us 
make  known  its  needs  and  call  upon  every  friend 
of  the  University  to  respond  to  its  necessities.  Let 
us  call  attention  to  its  many  advantages  and  to  the 
high  scholarship  which  it  maintains.  Let  us  inter- 
est our  alumni  and  friends  in  its  well-being.  It 
is  destined  to   succeed    and    we    may   confidently 

12 


178  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

expect  that,  before  another  hundred  years  pass 
over  it,  it  will  be  pronounced  by  all  men  to  be  one 
of  the  strongest  institutions  in  this  great  land  of 
ours     (Applause). 

Mr.  Converse:  A  year  ago  you  authorized  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  on  the  centennial  en- 
dowment fund  to  be  raised  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Alumni  Association.  As  in  other  great  enter- 
prises, so  in  this,  it  has  been  a  fact  that  the  leader- 
ship of  one  man  has  counted  for  more  than  any 
other  element  in  this  work. 

The  University  and  the  Alumni  Association  are 
indebted  to  Charles  A.  Catlin  of  Providence  for  the 
moving  force,  for  the  energy  and  largely  for  the 
leadership  which  has  already  secured  results  in 
raising  an  endowment  fund,  which  I  think  will  be 
most  gratifying  to  you  all.  The  report  of  the 
committee,  of  which  Mr.  Catlin  is  chairman,  will 
now  be  presented.  In  introducing  Mr.  Catlin,  I 
have  the  double  pleasure  of  announcing  him,  not 
only  as  chairman  of  the  Endowment  Fund  Com- 
mittee, but  as  the  new  president  of  this  Alumni 
Association. 

The  King  is  dead,  long  live  the  King.  In  tak- 
ing my  seat,  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  the  honor 
which  you  have  shown  me  for  several  years  in  plac- 
ing me  in  this  position,  and  also  to  congratulate 
you  on  the  leadership  which  you  will  have  in  the 
future  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Catlin. 


CENTENNIAL    FUND  179 

Mr.  Catlin  was  greeted  with  applause  as  he  rose 
to  present  his  report. 

Mr.  Catlin:  Brothers  arid  Sisters  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont  : 

I  hardly  know  how  to  thank  you  for  this  ex- 
pression of  your  esteem  and  regard,  coming  to  me 
as  it  does  so  unexpectedly.  I  do  not  know  how  to 
express  my  feelings.  But  permit  me  first  to  serve 
you  in  the  capacity  of  chairman  of  your  Centennial 
Fund  Committee  that  I  may  present  its  report  for 
your  approval  before  President  Converse  retires. 

REPORT  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL  FUND  COMMITTEE 

To  the  Associate  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Vermont: 

Your  Centennial  Endowment  Fund  Committee  begs  leave 
to  present  the  following  report : 

It  will  be  recalled  that  at  the  meeting  last  summer  a  reso- 
lution was  adopted  formally  undertaking  the  raising  of  a 
fund  of  $1,000,000  to  be  known  as  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont Centennial  Endowment  Fund,  to  carry  out  which,  the 
president  of  the  Associate  Alumni  was  empowered  and  di- 
rected to  name  a  committee  of  six,  of  which  he  was  to  be 
ex-ofhcio  a  member. 

In  accordance  with  this  action,  President  Converse  named 
the  following  gentlemen  to  serve  with  him  upon  such  com- 
mittee : 

Henry  W.  Hill  of  Buffalo,  New  York. 
Dr.  Frederick  T.  Kidder  of  Woodstock,  Vt. 
Darwin  P.  Kingsley  of  New  York  city. 
Horatio  Loomis  of  New  York  city. 
Elias  Lyman  of  Burlington,  Vt. 
Charles  A.  Catlin  of  Providence,  R.  I. 

Owing  to  the  absence  abroad  of  some  of  these  gentlemen 
considerable  delay  was  experienced  in  getting  the  committee 
together,  and  it  was  not  until  October  17th  that  a  meeting 


180  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

was  held  for  the  consideration  of  the  business  in  hand.  At 
this  meeting,  Charles  A.  Catlin  was  elected  chairman,  Pro- 
fessor Howes,  having  been  detached  by  the  corporation 
from  his  regular  faculty  duties  for  the  purpose,  was  elected 
secretary,  and  Elias  Lyman  was  appointed  local  executive 
committee,  with  President  Buckham  and  Treasurer  Powell 
as  advisers. 

In  accordance  with  the  plan  suggested  last  year  for  the 
presentation  of  the  matter,  the  committee  proceeded  at  once 
to  the  preparation  of  a  brochure  setting  forth  information 
in  regard  to  the  University's  past  and  present  work,  to- 
gether with  its  present  financial  condition  and  outlining 
something  of  a  general  plan  for  prosecuting  the  fund-rais- 
ing enterprise.  As  considerable  time  was  consumed  in 
gathering  information  and  other  delays  encountered,  it  was 
well  into  December  before  the  pamphlet  was  finally  pub- 
lished. As  soon  thereafter  as  possible,  copies  were  mailed 
to  all  alumni,  to  others  who  may  have  been  at  any  time  con- 
nected with  the  university  as  students,  and  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  friends.    Thus  the  movement  was  fairly  inaugurated. 

Following  this  distribution  of  the  brochure,  the  secretary, 
acting  as  manager  of  the  enterprise,  set  himself  to  the  task 
of  getting  into  communication  with  prominent  alumni  and 
friends  of  the  university  in  the  larger  cities,  and  appoint- 
ing committees  to  conduct  work  in  these  localities. 

Professor  Howes  also  made  trips  to  many  of  the  places 
thus  selected,  and  by  his  personal  efforts  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing a  number  of  new  alumni  associations,  developing  a 
wide-spread  interest  which  has  already  borne  considerable 
fruit  and  which  will  continue  to  bear  fruit  in  the  future. 

As  soon  as  the  working  committees  were  organized,  in 
most  cases  the  course  of  procedure  has  been  to  send  out 
circular  letters  in  their  territory  to  parties  likely  to  be  in- 
terested, and  then  to  follow  these  up  by  early  personal  in- 
terviews. 

Your  committee  has  found  its  work  not  a  little  hampered 
by  the  uncertain  financial  conditions  prevailing  throughout 
the  country,  which,  before  our  enterprise  had  been  fairly 
inaugurated,  manifested  themselves  as  potent  deterring 
factors.  Indeed,  before  the  first  meeting  of  your  committee 
the  situation  had  apparently  become  so  grave  as  to  raise 
serious  doubts  in  the  individual  minds  as  to  the  expediency 
of  prosecuting  the  enterprise  at  this  time.  While  this  phase 
of  the  matter  was  evidently  very  carefully  canvassed  by  the 


CENTENNIAL    FUND  181 

individual  members  of  the  committee  before  they  met, 
when  at  length  they  came  together  there  was  no  intimation 
whatever  of  delay,  each  apparently  having  decided  by  and 
for  himself  that  the  policy  should  be  one  of  prompt  and 
active  prosecution.  The  wisdom  of  this  course  has  been 
shown,  for,  while  undoubtedly  the  business  depression  has 
materially  affected  the  result  and  delayed  the  final  realiza- 
tion of  the  full  sum  not  a  little,  the  success  attending  the 
effort  thus  far  has  been  most  encouraging,  as  shown  by  the 
following  statement : 

Contributed  or  pledged  by  253  sons  and  daughters 

of  U.   V.   M $190,202 

Contributed  or  pledged  by  37  other  friends  of  U. 
V.  M 24,230 


Total  amount  contributed  or  pledged  to  date.  .$214,432 
In  the  above  there  were  contributions  and  pledges 
from   150  persons  outside    of    Vermont    to    the 

amount  of   $119,296 

From  140  persons  within  the  State  to  the  amount  of     95,136 

The  above  returns  indicate  something  of  what  we  may 
reasonably  hope  to  accomplish.  Owing  to  financial  and 
other  conditions  many  of  our  alumni  have  been  forced 
either  to  make  reduced  subscriptions  or  to  withhold  them 
for  the  time  being.  Something  of  what  may  be  expected 
from  this  source  when  all  shall  have  been  gathered  in  may 
appear  from  the  fact  that  here  we  have  253  contributing 
$190,202.  Here  then  still  remains  a  wide  missionary  field 
for   our   effort   with    reasonable   promise   of   large   returns. 

Certainly  we  have  reason  to  expect  Vermont's  interest  in 
her  own  university.  Yet  thus  far,  with  the  exception  of 
those  connected  with  the  university  and  some  of  the  gen- 
erous citizens  of  Burlington,  we  have  but  few  responses 
from  the  State  at  large.  So  here  again  is  a  hopeful  field 
for  future  exploitation. 

Burlington,  too,  has  a  vital  interest  in  this  matter,  and  we 
believe  when  this  home  field  shall  have  been  properly  ex- 
ploited— judging  from  the  generous  responses  thus  far  re- 
ceived— a  handsome  addition  will  accrue  to  our  enterprise. 

Then  besides  all  this,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  outside 
field  has  scarcely  been  heard  from.  Here  certainly  is  tre- 
mendous opportunity  for  our  effort  with  almost  unlimited 
possibilities  of  return. 


182  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Is  it  not  reasonable,  therefore,  to  hope  that  when  our 
effort  shall  have  properly  extended  into  all  these  fields,  we 
shall  be  able  to  accomplish  our  task. 

The  real  facts  are  that,  thus  far,  we  have  made  a  flatter- 
ing beginning,  but  only  a  beginning,  and  that  the  future 
has  much  in  store  for  our  cause,  both  of  effort  and  return. 

While  your  committee  would  congratulate  you  upon  the 
large  sum  they  have  succeeded  in  pledging  to  the  enterprise 
and  the  hopeful  prospect  of  ultimate  success  in  securing  the 
full  amount,  they  would  by  no  means  limit  their  felicitations 
to  this  material  progress,  but  would  congratulate  you  upon 
the  tremendous  moral  effect  which  has  followed  the  starting 
and  prosecution  of  the  enterprise,  in  the  way  of  rousing 
interest  in  our  university,  in  calling  attention  to  the  im- 
portant position  it  has  attained,  the  widespread  influence 
it  exercises  at  home  and  abroad,  and,  more  than  all,  in  the 
inspiration  of  sons  and  daughters  to  a  deeper  devotion  and 
a  closer  personal  interest  in  her  welfare. 

Not  only  has  the  effort  already  brought  many  helpful 
dollars  into  her  coffers  with  certain  promises  of  many  more, 
but  it  has  opened  avenues  of  approach  for  loyal  hearts  to 
rally  in  solid  phalanx  of  support  in  years  to  come,  yielding 
to  Alma  Mater  such  an  ever-growing  power  for  good  as 
she  has  never  had  before. 

Who  with  what  has  been  done  already,  will  say  sons  of 
U.  V.  M.  are  lacking  in  contributive  quality?  And  who 
will  say  that  we  may  not  be  able  to  raise  this  fund,  with 
eleven  of  every  twelve  of  our  brothers  yet  to  hear  from,  and 
new  friends  constantly  raised  up  here  and  there  to  help  us? 
Nothing  worth  while,  but  is  bought  at  a  price.  The  price 
of  success  here  is  our  patient,  persistent  effort.  Let  each 
put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  doing  with  his  might  as  he 
has  opportunity,  and  success  is  ours. 

And  finally,  in  presenting  this  report  your  committee 
would  hcartilv  commend  the  labors  of  our  most  efficient  and 
tactful  secretary,  Professor  Howes,  to  whose  unremitting 
effort  and  watchful  care  is  due  in  so  large  a  measure  the 
complete  organization  and  successful  conduct  of  your  enter- 
prise. 

[lu  addition  to  the  amounts  named  in  the  report,  Mr. 
Catlin  announced  that  the  women  students  had  subscribed 
$700  besides  the  $200  already  given,  and  that  other  sub- 
scriptions amounting  to  $5/5  had  been  received  during  the 
day.      He  thanked  the  alumni  for  the  honor  conferred  on 


CENTENNIAL    FUND  183 

him   and  expressed  the  belief  that  the  fund  would  grow 
handsomely  during-  the  next  year.] 

Words  fail  me  on  this  occasion.  I  feel  much  as 
the  Chicago  girl  did,  who  went  to  Europe  and,  of 
course,  to  Venice.  Then  she  wrote  to  the  folks  at 
home,  "  Dear  Ma,  just  think  of  it  ;  here  I  sit  on 
the  Grand  Canal,  drinking  it  all  in,  and  really  I 
find  myself  too  full  for  utterance." 

I  have  taken  in  such  a  tremendous  draught  today 
that  I  really  feel  too  full  for  utterance,  but  I  thank 
you  for  this  demonstration  of  your  esteem  and  con- 
fidence in  me  and  in  the  Fund,  for  I  feel  that  your 
confidence  in  our  fund-raising  enterprise  is  what 
has  brought  me  into  this  position. 

I  am  all  Fund  these  days,  and  I  want  you  to 
partake  of  some  of  the  encouragement  that  has 
come  to  me.  For  there  have  been  dark  days, 
disappointments  and  hesitancy,  and  I  don't  know 
what.  Upon  one  of  these  dark  days,  two  dear 
friends  met  with  me  to  consider  the  raising  of 
funds  in  Rhode  Island,  and  I  want  you  to  hear 
some  of  the  words  that  came  to  me  of  encourage- 
ment and  inspiration  from  one  of  these,  to  labor  on, 
to  trust  on,  that  the  results  which  we  hoped  for 
would  certainly  be  accomplished.  I  want  you  to 
hear  from  Dr.  Bass.     (Applause). 


184  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

DOCTOR   BASS'S   SPEFXII 

Mr.  President^  Brothers  and  Sisters  : 

I  know  of  but  one  possible  reason  for  my  being 
asked  to  say  a  word,  and  that  reason  is,  that  the 
good  class  of  '59  stands  credited  with  the  first  con- 
tribution of  one  thousand  dollars  toward  this  en- 
dowment fund.     (Applause). 

Soon  after  I  entered  college,  forty-nine  years 
ago,  there  fell  into  my  hands  the  pamphlet  giving 
the  story  of  the  Semi-Centennial,  which  I  read  with 
great  interest  from  beginning  to  end.  It  occurred 
to  me  then  that  there  would  come  a  Centennial  of 
the  University,  and  that  possibly  I  should  live  to 
see  it.  I  at  once  scheduled  myself  to  be  present, 
and  had  I  been  living  in  the  ends  of  the  earth,  with 
health  and  money  enough  to  pay  my  fare,  I  think 
I  should  have  been  here  now.      (Applause). 

In  1869  I  had  the  privilege  of  standing  on  the 
campus  at  Dartmouth's  centennial  and  seeing  a 
century  of  that  old  college  file  by,  and  the  emotions 
of  that  hour  were  worth  a  journey  across  the  conti- 
nent. From  that  day  I  have  desired  all  the  more 
to  see  this  good  and  great  Centennial  Commence- 
ment of  our  University.  I  am  devoutly  grateful  to 
the  Giver  of  all  good  things  for  the  privilege  of 
being  today  on  this  ground,  consecrated  by  one 
hundred  years  of  scholarship,  culture  and  char- 
acter. 

About  this  endowment  fund: — I  read  soon  after 
my  graduation  here  that  "  Xo  alumnus  of  Harvard 


EDWARD    C.    BASS'S    SPEECH  185 

is"~expected  to  die  in  peace  unless  he  provides  some- 
thing by  gift  or  will  for  his  Alma  Mater."  I 
adopted  that  as  part  of  my  creed.      (Applause). 

For  many  years  I  have  had  a  great  and  growing 
desire  to  bring  to  this  dear  old  college  a  token  of 
my  love,  a  practical  acknowledgment  of  benefits 
received  here  ;  and  when  one  of  those  subscription 
blanks  came  to  my  hand,  I  made  haste  to  fill  it, 
for  I  wanted  a  part  in  this  great  million-dollar 
fund.  I  subscribed  and,  what  is  better,  I  have 
paid.  And  now  I  am  in  the  position  of  an  editor 
who,  when  urging  some  great  benevolence,  closed 
his  appeal  by  saying :  "I  have  subscribed  and 
paid,  and  so  I  am  warranted  to  exhort  you."  I 
stand  here  exhorting  my  fellow  graduates  to  pro- 
vide something  for  this  University,  that  its  second 
century  may  be  many  times  greater  than  its  first. 
Not  one  of  us  can  overpay  our  indebtedness  to  this 
good  Mother  of  us  all. 

This  proposed  endowment  is  needed.  We  believe 
this  institution  belongs  to  Him  who  holds,  as  his 
own,  all  the  treasures  of  silver  and  gold,  and  who 
entrusts  these  treasures  to  his  children  as  fully  as 
their  hearts  and  hands  are  prepared  to  make  right 
use  of  them.  In  his  name  we  can  raise  this  million 
of  dollars.  It  appears  that  one-twelfth  of  the 
Alumni  have  raised  almost  $200,000.  Surely  the 
eleven-twelfths  can  raise  $800,000. 

We  can  do  it  as  the  Negro  church  built  a  much 
needed  house  of  worship.     They  met  and  prayed, 


186  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

considered  and  prayed  again,  and  resolved.  Their 
resolutions  were  :  "1.  We  will  all  do  something-; 
2.  We  will  all  do  'cording  to  onr  ability;  3.  We 
will  all  do  cheerfully."  Then  they  appointed  a 
day  to  meet  and  bring  in  their  contributions. 
When  thus  met,  the  chairman,  the  secretary  and 
treasurer  took  their  places,  and  the  givers  began 
bringing  forward  their  gifts.  One  came  up  who 
loved  his  church  some,  but  loved  his  money  more, 
and  with  a  gesture  of  impatience  threw  down  a  sum 
of  money,  and  in  the  tone  of  a  very  unwilling  giver 
said,  "  Take  that."  "No,"  said  the  chairman, 
"  no,  brudder;  we  can't  take  it.  It  is  not  'cording 
to  the  second  or  third  resolution,  take  it  back." 
And  the  old  man  went  back  with  his  money. 
After  a  while  he  came  up  again,  with  a  gift  twice 
as  large,  but  threw  it  on  the  table  just  as  im- 
patiently. "  No,  brudder;  no,  brudder;  we  can't 
take  that.  It  is  'cording  to  the  fust  resolution, 
and  may  be  'cording  to  de  second,  but  it  ain't 
'cording  to  de  last.  Take  it  back."  And  back 
went  the  old  man  again.  And  the  giving  and 
singing  went  on.  The  good  givers  of  much  or 
of  little  were  getting  to  be  very  happy,  and  after 
some  time  the  old  man  came  forward  again,  his 
face  now  shining  as  a  full  moon,  and  gently  laying 
down  his  full  pocket-book,  he  said  in  the  voice  of 
the  happiest  of  them  all,  "Take  that."  "Yes, 
brudder;  that  is  'cording  to  all  de  resolutions." 
And  the  church  was  built. 


EUGENE    N.    FOSS'S    SPEECH  187 

Mr.  Catlin  :  Do  you  wonder  that  the  Fund 
moved  on  with  Dr.  Bass  at  my  elbow?  But  before 
this,  there  was  another  friend.  We  have  heard  the 
history  of  this  fund-raising,  we  have  heard  how  it 
was  suggested  by  one  and  another,  and  how  we  man- 
aged to  get  this  strong  array  of  gentlemen  to  help 
it  on.  But  before  all  this,  fearing  that  the  matter 
might  fail,  that  perhaps  I  was  over  enthusiastic,  I 
resorted  to  this  dear  friend  and  brother  of  ours  for 
advice,  and  he  said,  "go  ahead,  you  can  do  it". 
Again  and  again,  when  days  were  rather  blue,  I 
went  to  him,  and  again  and  again  he  said,  "go 
ahead,"  and  this  gentleman,  one  of  the  strongest 
friends  of  the  University,  time  and  again  proving 
himself  such,  I  now  present  to  you,  Bugene  N. 
Foss  of  Boston. 

HON.    EUGENE  N.    FOSS'S   SPEECH 
Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Alumni: 

I  am  glad  to  meet  with  you  here  today.  When 
you  first  asked  me  to  say  a  word,  no  subject  was 
given  me,  so  I  suppose  I  am  at  liberty  to  speak 
about  the  thing  which  is  most  on  my  mind. 

Doubtless  some  of  you  will  ^  think  that  this  is 
Canadian  Reciprocity.  If  I  were  to  tell  the  truth 
I  fear  I  must  admit  the  fact.  At  least,  that  is  the 
only  subject  upon  which  I  have  been  known  to  say 
anything  publicly  (and  my  wife  says  privately  as 
well)  for  the  past  two  years.     So  if  what  I  have  to 


188  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

say  today  has  something  of  a  political  aspect,  you 
will  have  to  lay  the  blame  upon  your  President. 

If  not  everyone  here  is  an  advocate  of  Canadian 
Reciprocity,  I  am  sure  we  all  stand  for  that  reci- 
procity which  will  widen  the  scope  and  broaden  the 
usefulness  of  our  dear  old  Alma  Mater ;  the  kind 
of  reciprocit}T  which  will  build  up  the  University 
of  Vermont  ;  the  kind  that  will  give  her  new 
buildings  for  the  better  accommodation  of  her  ever 
increasing  children  ;  the  kind  that  will  contribute, 
and  increase  the  endowment  funds,  that  the  sphere 
of  her  usefulness  may  be  broadened,  and  that  she 
may  not  fall  behind  in  the  race  for  intellectual 
advancement.  To  this  end  I  am  very  sure  we  are 
all  ardent  supporters  of  the  cause  of  reciprocity. 

I  have  contended  that,  if  New  England  is  to  main- 
tain her  rightful  supremacy  in  men  and  letters,  she 
must  guard  well  her  industries  and  commerce ;  for 
it  is  from  this  source  that  the  wherewithal — the 
money — is  to  come  to  build  and  endow  our  institu- 
tions of  learning  and  keep  them  in  the  forefront. 
To  this  end  I  think  every  alumnus  should  be  a 
reciprocity  advocate.  The  young  men  in  particular 
I  would  invite  to  the  larger  field  of  politics.  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  is  a  peculiar  mission  for  the 
university  man  of  New  England  in  political  life,  if 
he  will  but  study  conditions  as  they  exist  today. 

I  am  aware  that  politics  is  not  inviting  to  the 
educated  young  man  from  the  college  and  univer- 
sity.    Its    "machines"  and  its   "bosses"   are   not 


EUGENE    N.    FOSS'S    SPEECH  189 

congenial.  The  thought  of  "corruption"  is  repug- 
nant, and  we  are  wont  to  look  askance  at  the  young 
man  who  would  take  an  interest  in  public  affairs 
and  offer  himself  as  a  candidate  in  some  reform 
which  he  has  espoused.  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  in  our  form  of  government,  if  good  and  intelli- 
gent citizens  stay  away  from  the  caucuses  and  polls, 
no  just  cause  of  complaint  can  be  made  if  things 
go  wrong, — if  "bosses"  and  "machines"  rule.  I 
don't  know  a  place  where  brains  and  education  and 
hard  work  will  count  more  for  the  common  good  of 
our  country,  our  section,  our  state,  our  city,  than 
in  a  reasonable  interest  in  public  affairs. 

The  West  is  growing  in  manufacturing  and  has 
been  calling  loudly  for  young  men.  The  West  is 
able  to  offer  them  better  opportunities.  This 
should  not  be  so  to  the  extent  that  it  is.  We  have 
the  brains,  the  intelligence,  the  skill — that  is  our 
New  England  heritage;  and  we  should  have  the  op- 
portunity, the  chance,  to  offer  to  these  brainy  young 
men.  We  should  make  it  possible  for  them  to  do  as 
well  here  as  in  other  parts  of  our  country.  New 
England  is  a  good  section  in  which  to  live ;  it 
should  be  a  good  section  in  which  to  succeed. 

If  these  conditions  are  realized — and  this  is  what 
interests  me — we  shall  have  little  trouble  in  raising 
the  needed  funds  to  endow  these  schools  and 
colleges,  that  they  may  hold  their  rightful  place. 
We  shall  then  stop  looking  to  Pennsylvania  to 
build   our   libraries   and    to    Ohio   to   endow   our 


190  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

universities.  This  will  make  for  a  stronger  and 
more  self-respecting  citizenship. 

In  my  own  case  I  confess  that  in  my  devotion  to 
business  for  twenty  years  I  gave  little  thought  to 
public  affairs,  but  when  I  awoke  and  looked  into 
industrial  conditions  as  they  exist  in  New  England, 
as  compared  with  other  parts  of  our  great  country, 
I  was  impelled  to  take  a  hand  and  do  my  duty  as  I 
saw  it. 

We  business  men  must  give  some  thought  and 
time  to  these  vital  questions  of  public  concern,  and 
not  leave  everything  to  the  professional  politic- 
ian. This  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  intelli- 
gent business  man,  the  educated  citizen,  the  college- 
bred  man  (if  you  please)  has  made  the  "profes- 
sional politician"  possible.  It  has  made  the 
political  "boss,"  with  his  machine  which  is  dictat- 
ing the  policy  of  the  country  today.  This 
"machine  rule"  is  so  potent  in  national  affairs 
today  that  even  so  true  and  strong  a  patriot  as  our 
young  President,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  is  shackled. 
This  "machine,"  as  represented  by  a  rebellious 
and  insurgent  element  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
is  so  bold  as  to  ignore  and  pigeon-hole  trade  treaties 
made  with  twelve  foreign  countries  by  our  distin- 
guished fellow  alumnus,  the  Hon.  John  A.  Kasson, 
who  is  with  us  today. 

These  treaties  were  in  the  best  interest  of  the 
country  and,  as  I  believe,  in  the  best  interest  of  the 
Republican    party.     They    were    approved  by   the 


EUGENE    N.    FOSS'S    SPEECH  191 

lamented  McKinley  in  accordance  with  the  pledge 
of  his  party  at  its  National  Conventions  at  St. 
Louis  and  Philadelphia,  and  were  recommended  by 
President  Roosevelt. 

But  to  come  to  the  report  of  the  Alumni  Cen- 
tennial Fund.  I  have  listened  with  much  interest 
and  satisfaction  to  this  report.  I  think  the  show- 
ing is  excellent.  A  lot  of  good  work  has  been 
done,  as  is  shown  by  the  gratifying  results.  I 
think  we  can  congratulate  the  Committee  and  the 
University  and  say,  Let  the  good  work  go  on. 

At  the  first  meeting  held  at  the  University  Club 
in  New  York,  I  recall  that  some  thought  we  were 
somewhat  presumptuous  to  ask  for  as  much  as 
$1,000,000,  but  the  wisdom  of  that  course,  I  think, 
is  now  fully  justified.  The  Committee  report 
nearly  a  quarter  of  it  already  raised,  and  I  think 
the  next  three-quarters  will  come  easier  than  the 
first  quarter.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Uuiver- 
sity  needs  the  $1,000,000,  and  if  such  be  the  case, 
we  ought  to  make  bold  and  ask  for  it.  One  thing 
is  sure,  we  are  not  likely  to  get  more  than  is  asked 
for.  I  think  the  outlook  is  most  hopeful.  Interest 
and  advertising  will  beget  interest,  and  we  shall  get 
money  where  we  now  least  expect  it. 

I  am  a  great  believer  in  close,  systematic  work, 
and  by  organizing  and  continuous  work  we  shall 
attain  the  end. 

I  think  we  should  keep  a  financial  agent  in  the 
field  giving  his  whole  time  to  this  fund.     It  is  by 


192  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

intelligently  presenting  the  needs  of  the  University 
that  we  interest  the  living,  that  they  may  do  in 
their  lifetime,  or  remember  the  college  in  their 
wills.  The  present  year  has  not  been  the  best  for 
raising  such  a  fund,  and  all  the  more  credit  is  due 
the  Committee;  but  we  are  going  to  have  better 
times  here  in  New  England  when  a  more  sane  and 
progressive  policy  prevails  in  national  affairs ;  and 
I  don't  think  that  time  is  so  far  away  as  it  may 
seem  to  some. 

I  might  say  a  word  on  the  small  college  and 
university,  its  work  and  its  right  to  live  in  this 
age  of  combinations  and  large  things;  but  others  can 
do  and  have  done  this  better  than  I  can  hope  to. 
However,  I  will  say  what  I  think  every  alumnus 
here  will  echo,  that  we  would  not  give  up  our 
Alma  Mater  for  any  other.  We  cherish  the 
memory  of  the  years  spent  here  in  this  beautiful 
spot ;  and  as  we  do  and  as  we  prosper,  let  us  not 
forget  our  Alma  Mater. 

Mr.  Catlin  :  You  see  what  power  there  was 
behind  this  fund-raising  movement  for  doing 
things.  You  have  heard  of  that,  now  famous, 
meeting  of  gentlemen  in  New  York  who  got  to- 
gether to  consider  this  matter  ;  how  they  carefully 
planned  for  it,  inaugurated  it  and  gave  it  being. 
One  dear  old-time  friend  was  there,  whom  every 
son  of  U.  V.  M.  loves  to  honor.  He  said  to  me  as 
we  went  in  together,  "Charlie,   you've  stirred  up 


R.    D.    BENEDICT'S    SPEECH  193 

a  terrible  hornet's  nest."  Well,  this  brother  has 
been  aiding  and  abetting  the  stirring  ever  since, 
and  I  would  call  upon  Hon.  Robert  D.  Benedict  for 
a  word. 

HON.  R.   D.  BENEDICT'S  SPEECH 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Alumni  and  Friends  of  the 

University : 

On  one  day  of  last  week  a  rapid  train  brought 
me  hither  through  the  lovely  valley  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  ;  and,  as  my  eyes  fell  with  ever  renewed 
pleasure  on  the  hillsides,  the  green  meadows  and 
the  homes  that  nestled  among  them,  there  con- 
tinually occurred  to  my  mind  one  of  the  few  lines 
of  Virgil  which  the  passage  of  years  and  events 
has  not  erased  from  my  memory: 

"  O  fortunatos  nimium,  sua  si  bona  norint, 
Agricolas  ! 

or,  according  to  Kennedy's  translation, 

"  Too  happy  they,  the  tillers  of  the  fields, 
If  their  own  bliss  they  knew." 

And  I  thought  to  myself  that  if  Virgil  could 
compare  the  condition  of  those  tillers  of  the  fields 
to  whom  he  addressed  that  line,  with  the  condition 
of  those  who  till  these  beautiful  fields  of  Vermont, 
after  all  the  changes  of  circumstances  and  condi- 
tion, it  would  not  be  "fortunatos"  that  he  would 
call  them,  but  u  fortunatissimos." 

13 


194  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Now  in  this  Commencement  season,  when  all 
over  the  land  young  men  and  women  are  going 
forth  from  college  halls  into  the  active  life  of  the 
world,  may  we  not  well  apply  to  them  that  line  of 
Virgil  ?  They  are  tillers  of  the  field  of  knowledge. 
May  we  not  say  that  the  alumni  of  our  colleges  are 
of  all  the  classes  of  our  young  men  "  fortunati?  " 
Would  it  be  too  extravagant  for  me  on  this  oc- 
casion, with  these  Centennial  surroundings,  with 
all  these  associations,  with  the  memories  of  the 
long  past  and  the  bright  hopes  of  the  longer  future, 
if  I  should  address  you,  the  Alumni  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont,  as,  today,  "  fortunatissimos  " 
among  all  the  alumni. 

If  you  should  challenge  me  to  defend  this  state- 
ment, I  could  use  all  the  time  you  would  give  me 
to  justify  myself  in  the  application  of  that  word, 
but  I  am  sure  that  I  need  appeal  only  to  the 
thought  and  feeling  in  the  mind  of  every  one  of 
you  to  justify  me  in  it.  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  on 
this  occasion,  though  there  is  much  that  it  would 
be  pleasant  to  say  to  you  all  on  this  subject,  yet  I 
wish  to  take  you  for  a  few  moments  into  larger 
fields,  into  ampler  distances.  For  I  have  a  message 
to  bring  to  the  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont, which  comes  from  across  the  sea.  We  are 
all  listening  now  with  eager  interest  to  the  roar  of 
conflict  that  conies  to  us  from  the  far  Hast,  and  I 
have  a  message  for  you  from  the  far  East.  It  is 
not  a  message  from  warriors  to  those  whose  hearts 


R.    D.    BENEDICT'S    SPEECH  195 

are  on  fire  with  love  of  combat.  It  is  a  message 
from  the  educators  and  students  in  Japan  to 
the  educators  and  students  in  the  United  States. 

On  the  28th  of  last  May  there  met  in  the  city  of 
Tokio,  an  assemblage  called  together  under  the 
auspices  of  the  president  of  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity of  Japan,  at  which  was  present  a  large 
gathering  representing  more  than  twenty  institu- 
tions of  learning  in  that  country.  It  was  called  to 
express  their  sense  of  the  value,  to  the  Japanese 
and  to  their  educational  institutions,  of  the  in- 
fluence of  this  country.  It  was  presided  over  by 
the  president  of  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokio. 
Among  the  speakers  on  that  occasion  were  Count 
Okuma  and  the  Marquis  Ito,  whose  influence  in 
Japan  has  been  and  is  so  great. 

The  expressions  of  those  men  as  to  the  indebted- 
ness of  Japan  to  the  United  States  of  America  for 
the  men  whom  the  United  States  had  sent  there, 
and  the  influence  of  our  people  upon  their  edu- 
cators, were  very  remarkable.  At  that  meeting 
on  this  28th  of  May,  they  passed  these  resolutions 
as  an  expression  of  their  feelings.  If  you  will 
listen  as  I  read  them  I  shall  be  obliged  to  you.* 


*Tkese  resolutions  were  forwarded  to  Gen.  Stewart  L.  Woodford 
of  New  York  and  are  as  follows  : 

We,  educators  and  students,  representing  the  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning,  in  Tokio  assembled  on  May  28,  1904,  adopt  the 
following  resolutions: 

1.  That  we  express  our  appreciation  of  the  part  taken  by  the 
United  States  government  in  the  peaceable  opening  of  Japan  to  a 
new  life  and  new  civilization,  beginning  with  the  first  treaty  of 
friendship  negotiated  through  Commodore  Perry.  [See  over.] 


196  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

These  resolutions,  thus  adopted,  were  forwarded 
to  this  country.  On  Thursday  last  I  saw  the 
original  manuscript.  I  did  not  undertake  to  read 
it.  It  was  largely  signed  and,  as  I  was  informed, 
contained  the  resolutions  of  which  what  I  have 
read  is  no  doubt  a  very  free  translation.  I  think 
this  body  of  alumni  is  the  first  body  in  this  coun- 
try to  whom  those  resolutions  have  been  made 
known,  for  it  was  only  last  week  that  the  resolu- 
tions were  received  in  New  York.  I  have  thought, 
Mr.  Chairman,  that  it  would  not  be  out  of  place, 
even  among  our  present  interests  here,  if  we,  as 
alumni,  should  send  back  a  message  of  greeting 
to  those  educators  and  students  of   Japan  ;   and  I 


2.  That  we  gratefully  recognize  the  friendship  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  for  the  people  of  Japan,  as  manifested  continu- 
ously during  the  last  fifty  years,  and  the  many  services  rendered  by 
them  to  our  country,  especially  in  the  cause  of  education  by  the 
disinterested  labors  of  American  educators  in  the  development  of 
our  institutions  of  learning  ;  and  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  by  the 
sympathy  and  assistance  given  to  the  families  of  our  soldiers  and 
sailors. 

3.  That  we  confirm  the  statement  that  Japan  has  not  entered 
the  present  struggle  for  aggrandizement  or  conquest,  but  has  been 
forced  into  it  for  the  security  of  the  empire,  for  the  permanent 
peace  of  the  East,  and  for  the  progress  of  that  beneficent  and  en- 
lightened civilization  which  Japan  herself  has  imbibed  from  the 
nations  of  the  West,  and  which  she  has  made  her  own. 

4.  That  in  the  struggle,  standing  as  we  do  for  principles  which 
we  believe  are  identical  with  those  cherished  by  all  enlightened 
nations,  we  look  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  that  sym- 
pathy which  we  believe  our  cause  deserves ;  and  especially  do  we 
turn  to  the  colleges  and  universities  of  America,  which  have  given 
to  so  many  of  us  so  cordial  a  welcome,  and  to  whose  teachers, 
alumni  and  students  many  of  us  are  bound  by  ties  of  gratitude  and 
friendship. 


R.    D.    BENEDICT'S    SPEECH  197 

have  prepared  a  brief  response  of  that  kind,  which 
I  will  ask  yon  to  adopt  and  forward  to  them,  in 
recognition  of  our  common  interest  in  the  great 
cause  of  education,  which,  in  the  words  of  Count 
Okuma,  is  "of  the  most  vital  importance  to  any 
nation,  being-  the  basis  of  all  its  progress,  pros- 
perity and  strength." 

I  read  to  you,  therefore,  the  following  response 
which  I  have  prepared,  and  move  that  it  be  for- 
warded as  the  response  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont,  to  the  proper  authority  in 
Japan. 

Judge  C.  B.  McLaughlin  :  I  trust  the  proposed 
resolution  will  not  be  adopted  in  its  entirety. 
In  saying  this  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood 
as  opposing  the  resolution,  except  in  so  far 
as  there  is  therein  seemingly  expressed  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  this  Association  that 
Japan  may  ultimately  be  successful  in  her 
present  contest  with  Russia.  On  that  subject, 
irrespective  of  what  our  individual  feelings  may  be, 
I  think  the  Association  should  remain  silent. 
Russia  at  one  time,  and  within  the  recollection  of 
many  now  present,  was  the  friend  of  this  country, 
and  at  a  time  when  such  friendship  meant  and 
counted  for  much.  Our  people  then  appreciated 
Russia's  act  and  the  position  which  she  took  among 
the  strong  nations  of  the  earth.  Let  us  not  now, 
apparently  in  forgetfulness  of  this  act,  pass  a 
resolution  which  could  in  any  way  be  construed  as 


198  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

sympathizing  with  Japan  or  expressing  a  wislAhat 
Japan  may  triumph  over  our  former  friend. 

I  hope  the  resolution  will  be  amended  so  as  to 
eliminate  everything  therein  contained  which  might 
be  construed  as  evidencing  any  feeling  on  the  part 
of  this  Association  for  or  against  either  Russia  or 
Japan  in  their  present  contest. 

RESPONSE    TO    THE    JAPANESE    RESOLUTIONS 
[As  modified  in  compliance  with  the  above  suggestion] 

The  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Vermont,  who  have 
gathered  to  celebrate  its  centennial  anniversary,  have 
listened  with  great  interest  to  the  resolutions  which  were 
adopted  at  the  meeting  of  educators  and  students  of  Japan 
which  was  held  at  Tokio  on  the  28th  of  May  last. 

The  sense  which  those  resolutions  express  of  the  indebt- 
edness of  the  cause  of  education  in  Japan  to  the  services  of 
American  educators,  and  the  recognition  of  the  friendly 
relations  which  have  prevailed  between  the  colleges  and 
universities  of  America  and  those  sons  of  Japan  whom  our 
colleges  and  universities  are  glad  and  proud  to  reckon 
among  their  alumni,  have  touched  us  deeply. 

We  rejoice  in  the  friendly  relations  which  have  prevailed 
and  still  prevail  between  the  two  nations,  and  still  more  in 
the  relations  of  thought  and  purpose  which  are  drawing 
the  educators  and  students  of  both  nations  more  close  to 
each  other  in  spirit,  though  separated  by  the  width  of  the 
world  ;  and  we  trust  that  the  coming  years  may  make 
those  relations  ever  more  firm  and  extensive. 

We  send  across  the  continent  and  the  ocean  an  expres- 
sion of  our  earnest  hope  that  the  time  of  trial  through 
which  Japan  is  passing  may  soon  come  to  an  end  in  such 
wise  as  to  help  on  her  people  in  a  progress  to  yet  higher 
planes  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  that  they  may  attain 
yet  greater  successes  in  the  high  cause  of  education  ;  for 
we  recognize  the  truth  of  the  words  of  one  of  the  distin- 
guished speakers  at  the  meeting  which  adopted  the  resolu- 
tions to  which  we  now  reply,  that  education  is  "of  the 
most  vital  importance  to  every  nation,  being  the  basis  of 
all  its  progress,  prosperity  and  strength." 


W.    O.    ATWATER'S    SPEECH  199 

[This  response  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  a  hand- 
somely engraved  copy  of  the  same  was  forwarded  by  the 
secretary  of  the  Association  to  President  Yamagawan  of 
the  Imperial  University  of  Tokio.] 

Mr.  Catlin  :  This  is  a  University  of  Vermont 
occasion.  We  cannot  hear  from  each  member  of 
onr  family  in  the  short  time  we  can  remain  here, 
but  we  must  not  forget  onr  half-brother,  whom  we 
have  with  us  today.  I  will  call  upon  Prof.  W.  O. 
Atwater  of  the  Wesleyan  University, — and  I  wish 
now  I  had  not  told  my  "drinking  it  all  in"   story. 

PROFESSOR   ATWATER 'S   SPEECH 

When  Mr.  Catlin  was  speaking  of  his  very 
successful  efforts  in  "raising  the  endowment  of  the 
University  I  was  wondering  why  I  could  not  quite 
understand  him.  Sometimes  he  seemed  to  be  talk- 
ing about  a  fund  and  sometimes  he  left  off  the  "d" 
and  talked  about  raising  fun.  But  as  he  went  on 
and  told  how  one  amount  came  in  after  another,  I 
saw  that  this  mixing  of  words  was  entirely  natural. 
It  must  have  been  great  fun  to  be  able  to  do  so 
much  in  so  short  a  time  toward  raising  this  great 
fund. 

And  when  Mr.  Catlin  talked  of  the  growth  of 
the  University  and  of  its  large  and  increasing 
influence,  I  was  thinking  of  the  significance  of  the 
University  in  our  national  life  and  how  the  U.  V.  M. 
has  fulfilled  its  mission  in  the  past,  is  fulfilling  it 
now  more  largely  than  ever  before,  and  promises 
increasing  usefulness  in  the  future. 


200  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Wc  have  been  hearing  how  some  of  the  graduates 
of  the  University  of  Vermont  are  managing  great 
enterprises  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  One  en- 
gineers a  subway  in  London;  another  puts  a  bridge 
across  a  great  chasm  in  Asia;  still  another  is  at  the 
head  of  an  enormous  mining  enterprise  in  South 
Africa.  This  morning  we  heard  from  the  lips  of  a 
distinguished  alumnus  about  a  work  of  interna- 
tional arbitration  in  which  he  has  borne  so  large  a 
share  and  which  brings  us  nearer  to  the  day 

"When  the  war-drum  throbs  no  longer    and   the   battle- 
flags  are  furled 
In  the  Parliament  of  man,  the  Federation  of  the  world. ' ' 

But  if  this  influence  extends  so  far,  it  is  most 
profoundly  felt  at  home.  It  is  at  its  greatest  with 
the  young  men  and  women  who  come  from  the 
hillsides  and  valleys,  from  the  Green  Mountains 
and  from  the  distant  prairies  to  this  old  home  of 
education,  and  carry  away  with  them  not  simply 
the  learning  and  the  discipline  which  enable  them 
to  gain  more  for  themselves,  but  also  the  power  of 
influencing  others  and  the  ideals  and  aspirations 
with  which  they  may  render  the  highest  sendee  of 
citizenship,  and  may  become  in  the  larger  sense 
contributors  to  the  welfare  of  the  republic. 

We  have  been  hearing  of  great  changes  in  the 
University,  and  seeing  the  genial  benefactor  who 
has  been  presiding  at  the  alumni  breakfast,  reminds 
me  of  one.  Many  years  ago  when  I  was  a  little 
boy  here  in  Burlington  I  had  to  go  to  town  at  the 


W.   O.   ATWATER'S   SPEECH  201 

gray  dawn  of  a  September  morning  ;  on  the  way  I 
met  a  big  boy  whom  I  knew,  and  who  had  jnst 
entered  college  and  was  on  his  way  to  chapel — some 
of  yon  younger  people  may  have  read  or  heard  your 
fathers  tell  about  morning  chapel  in  those  days — I 
remember  very  vividly  even  now  how  I  was  im- 
pressed by  this  example  of  obedience  to  the  adage: 

"Early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise 

Makes  a  man  healthy,  wealthy  and  wise." 

In  later  years  I  have  watched  from  afar  the 
successful  career  whose  high  ideals  were  set  forth  in 
his  address  this  morning,  the  accumulation  of  the 
wealth  with  which  he  has  so  generously  endowed 
the  University;  and  we  have  only  to  look  out  of  the 
window  here  and  see  in  that  magnificent  building 
one  of  the  many  evidences  of  the  wisdom  which 
guides  his  benevolence.  But  think  of  the  change! 
The  alumni  of  the  University  today  breakfasting 
here  at  half  past  twelve  instead  of  six,  and  that 
very  model  of  matutinal  diligence,  not  only  counte- 
nances the  practice  by  his  presence  (pointing  at 
Mr.  Converse)  but  lends  it  dignity  by  presiding. 

We  older  alumni  remember  that  when  we  came 
up  here  on  the  hill,  it  was  to  study  Latin  and 
Greek  and  mathematics  until  near  the  end  of  the 
senior  year.  From  them  we  obtained  high  ideals 
of  life  and  truth.  With  them  came  stern  mental 
discipline  and  a  culture  which  we  dare  not  under- 
value. But  today,  how  are  these  things  changed! 
The  classics  and  the  mathematics  remain,  but  all 


202  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

the  fruits  of  modern  knowledge  are  added ;  the 
curriculum  is  wonderfully  enlarged  and,  happily,  it 
keeps  pace  with  the  thought  of  the  day.  It  is  an 
educational  revolution,  but  one  which  adapts  the 
University  to  the  present  without  giving  up  the 
inheritance  of  the  past. 

When  I  was  here  in  college,  we  only  heard  about 
discoveries ;  today  the  men  of  the  University  are 
making  them.  Why,  here  is  a  case  right  at  hand. 
We  used  to  read  how  men  had  crossed  the  seas  to 
discover  here  in  the  New  World  the  fountain  of 
perpetual  youth.  There's  the  man  (pointing  to 
President  Buckham)  who  has  discovered  it  right 
here. 

When  I  was  here,  the  number  of  students  was 
few.  I  should  hardly  be  willing  to  tell  you  how 
small  was  the  number  in  my  own  class.  If  any 
one  of  that  time  had  ventured  to  prophesy  entering 
classes  of  a  hundred,  it  would  have  been  called  an 
iridescent  dream — and  yet,  I  am  told  that  it  is 
already  realized. 

Thinking  of  this  growth  in  numbers  of  students 
and  faculty,  and  the  even  greater  growth  in  educa- 
tional advantages,  I  have  been  asking  myself ,  What 
is  the  profounder  meaning?  What  is  the  real 
significance  of  the  University  today  ? 

As  a  student  and  teacher  of  physical  science,  I 
find  myself  continually  dealing  with  two  funda- 
mental laws:  the  law  of  the  conservation  of  matter 
and  the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy.     These 


C.  B.  MCLAUGHLIN'S  SPEECH  203 

govern  the  material  world,  these  underlie  the  scien- 
tific teaching  of  the  University  and  guide  its  spirit. 
As  men  and  as  citizens,  interested  in  the  things 
of  the  higher  intellectual  and  moral  welfare,  we 
find  ourselves  dealing  with  two  other  laws,  resting 
upon  equally  firm  basis  of  reason:  the  law  of  truth 
and  the  law  of  service.  These  also  pervade  life  and 
thought;  and  they  likewise  underlie  the  spirit  and 
the  teaching  of  the  University.  In  obedience  to 
the  laws  of  truth,  the  University  teaches  us  how  to 
find  the  truth,  tells  us  to  follow  it ;  in  accordance 
with  the  law  of  service,  it  teaches  us  the  duty  and 
the  way  of  rendering  that  service  to  the  community 
which  the  divine  Author  of  all  these  laws  in- 
tended for  us.  Thus  it  is  that  in  the  larger  sense 
the  universities  of  today  and,  with  the  rest,  the 
University  of  Vermont,  are  fulfilling  their  high 
mission.  For  the  privilege  of  sharing  in  that  labor, 
for  the  help  the  University  gives  us  so  to  perform 
it,  we  cannot  be  too  thankful. 

Mr.  Catlin:  I  think  we  would  now  like  to 
hear  from  another  member  of  our  famous  New 
York  Centennial  Fund  conference,  Judge  Mc- 
Laughlin. 

judge  Mclaughlin's  speech 

Mr.  President  and  Friends  of  the  University: 

I  wish  our  good  friend,  Mr.  Converse,  had  given 
up  his  position  as  President  of  this  Association  at 
least  five  minutes  before  he  did.     Less  than    five 


204  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

minutes  before  he  called  his  successor  to  the  chair 
he  sent  a  note  to  me,  saying  that  I  would  be  called 
upon  to  say  a  word  before  the  meeting  adjourned. 
Ever  since  this  message  was  received  I  have  been 
thinking  what  I  could  say  that  would  be  of  any 
interest  whatever  to  the  members  of  this  associa- 
tion, and  the  result  of  my  efforts  has  left  me  in 
about  the  same  condition  that  one  of  brother  Hill's 
friends  found  himself  in  on  returning  one  evening 
late  from  a  dinner.  It  was  dark,  and  his  attention 
was  more  fixed  on  keeping  on  the  sidewalk  at  all 
than  it  was  on  keeping  in  the  center  of  it.  He  was 
not  entirely  successful  in  his  efforts,  because  he 
came  in  contact  with  a  shade  tree,  which  was  the 
only  one  on  the  street.  The  collision  was  neither 
pleasant  nor  effective.  After  a  few  preliminaries, 
however,  he  renewed  his  efforts  to  proceed,  when  a 
second  collision  occurred,  and  this  one  was  quite 
effective,  because  he  found  himself  at  full  length 
upon  the  sidewalk.  As  he  slowly  arose  he  clapped 
both  hands  upon  his  head  and  exclaimed:  "Lost, 
lost,  lost,  in  an  impenetrable  forest."  After  sitting 
here  so  long  and  listening  to  the  many  good  things 
that  have  been  said,  I  find  myself  lost  to  discover 
what  I  can  possibly  say  that  may  be  in  the  slightest 
degree  interesting  to  any  of  you. 

On  my  way  down  the  lake  yesterday,  as  we  ap- 
proached this  beautiful  city — and  there  is  none 
more  beautiful,  I  care  not  where  you  go — I  won- 
dered why  it  was  that  this  place  had  not  become  a 


C.  B.  MCLAUGHLIN'S  SPEECH  205 

great  seat  of  learning  like  Harvard  or  Yale,  and  as 
a  result  of  my  efforts  I  finally  concluded  that  it 
was  not  on  account  of  its  natural  location.  The 
Green  Mountains  upon  the  one  side  and  the  Adi- 
rondacks  upon  the  other,  with  a  beautiful  sheet  of 
water  in  front,  are  all  that  one  could  naturally  ask 
nature  to  do  and  the  only  explanation  which  I 
could  find  was  in  the  fact  that  the  friends  of  the 
University  itself  had  not  taken  advantage  of  what 
nature  at  least  had  done  for  thern — that  they  had 
not  brought  the  thinking  public  to  see  what  an 
ideal  spot  it  was  and  what  great  advantages  it  had 
for  a  seat  of  learning. 

I  am  glad,  however,  to  say  that  within  the  last 
few  years  rapid  strides  have  been  made  in  this 
direction,  notably  in  the  prominence  given  to 
athletics  and  the  production  of  a  periodical  which 
does  honor  and  credit  to  the  institution. 

The  State  itself  has  a  reputation  which  extends 
far  beyond  its  borders,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  reputation  of  the  University  should  not  extend 
far  beyond  that  of  the  State.  It  is,  however,  a 
pleasant  thought  that  if  the  reputation  of  the  Uni- 
versity is  not  as  extensive  as  that  of  the  State,  it  is 
as  least  more  accurate.  And  this  reminds  me  of 
an  incident  which  occurred  last  March,  while  I  was 
spending  a  few  days  in  North  Carolina  shooting. 
There  were  three  in  our  party  and  the  gentleman 
whose  guests  we  were,  had,  with  that  wholesome 
hospitality  which  characterizes  gentlemen  of  that 


206  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

state,  provided  us  with  a  colored  man,  who  carried 
our  ammunition.  (Of  course  he  did  not  carry 
anything  else,  because  people  in  North  Carolina, 
like  people  in  Vermont,  never  drink  anything  ex- 
cept water.)  The  other  two  members  of  the  party 
were  younger  (if  not  quite  as  heavy)  than  I  was,  and 
naturally  I  let  them  do  most  of  the  shooting  ;  and 
to  make  up  for  the  loss  in  shooting  I  indulged  in 
reminiscences  with  the  colored  man,  and  in  doing 
so,  presuming  on  the  short  acquaintance  thus 
formed,  he  wanted  to  know  if  I  could  tell  him 
anything  about  the  present  war.  I  asked  him 
what  war  he  referred  to,  and  he  said  :  ' (  Dat  war 
down  Bast,  dat  dey  discuss  at  Hank  Wilson's  store 
every  night."  I  replied:  "  You  refer  to  the  war 
between  Russia  and  Japan;  "  and  he  said,  "  Yes, 
dat  is  the  war."  I  said,  "Where  do  you  think 
'  Down  Bast  '  is  ?  "  and  he  responded,  "  I  nebber 
heard  but  one  Down  Bast  and  that  was  Vermont." 

So  you  see  that  while  the  reputation  of  the  State 
extends  far  beyond  its  borders,  it  is  not  entirely 
accurate.  This  cannot  be  said  of  this  University. 
No  matter  where  you  go,  if  the  University  has  any 
reputation  at  all,  it  is  accurate  ;  and  this  is  due  in 
no  small  degree  to  what  its  graduates  have  done 
and  the  position  which  they  have  taken  in  the 
affairs  of  the  world. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  the  progress  which  the 
University  has  made  in  the  past  few  years,  and  also 
upon  the  renewed  interest  which  its  friends  are  now 


DANIEL   L.    CADY'S   SPEECH  207 

taking  in  its  behalf,  as  evidenced  by  the  endow- 
ment fund  which  has  been  raised,  and  which  we 
hope  during  the  coming  year  may  be  very  mater- 
ially increased. 

Mr.  Catlin  :  In  spile  of  the  announcement  by 
the  President  that  we  were  not  to  say  anything  of 
the  endowment  fnnd-raising  at  this  commencement, 
I  can't  help  it,  and  he  can't  help  himself  if  I  do 
just  here  and  now,  and  others  want  to ;  so  I  will 
call  upon  Mr.  Daniel  L.  Cady  of  New  York,  who 
has  a  word  for  us. 

DANIEL    L.    CADY'S    SPEECH 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Friends  of  the  University; 

Though  I  have  the  honor  to  be  called  upon  as 
President  of  the  New  York  Alumni,  and  though,  of 
course,  I  have  all  sorts  of  ready-made  speeches  and 
remarks,  pigeon-holed  and  indexed  in  my  pockets, 
which  I  can  produce  at  a  minute's  notice  to  fit  any 
phase  of  this  happy  occasion,  yet,  with  the  per- 
mission of  the  Chairman,  I  wish  to  speak  today  on 
behalf  of  the  good  class  of  '86.  The  breakfast, 
however,  has  been  so  enjoyable,  and  it  is  getting 
so  near  lunch  time,  or  dinner  time,  as  the  case 
may  be,  that  I  think  I  had  best  only  say  enough 
to  cause  Chairman  Catlin  to  revise  the  report  he 
has  just  made  on  the  Endowment  Fund.  I  would 
like  to  put  him  to  the  trouble  of  revising  his  fig- 
ures, and  making  a  new  tabulation.     As  a  good 


208  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

business  man  I  would  like  to  have  him  bring-  his 
report  thoroughly  down  to  date,  and  so  I  say  I  am 
proud  and  happy  to  announce,  on  behalf  of  the 
class  of  '86,  that  within  the  last  month  or  two  the 
class  has  contributed,  as  its  first  donation  to  the 
Centennial  Endowment  Fund,  the  sum  of  $1,000. 
And  I  would  further  announce  that  this  sum  has 
not  only  been  pledged  and  subscribed,  but  collected 
and  paid  over,  and  is  now  available.  In  the  words 
of  the  merchant  princes  of  Baxter  Street,  it  is 
"Cash  Money."  I  will  hand  the  amount  to  the 
secretary  of  the  Endowment  Fund  Committee  to- 
day, and  only  desire  to  say  in  closing  that  all  of  the 
class  have  not  been  heard  from  either.  They  are 
scattered  throughout  the  world  from  "The  Mill" 
to  Manila,  and  from  the  Green  Mountains  to  the 
Ganges,  but  I  am  going  to  take  the  time  to  locate 
every  one  of  them,  for  they  are  all  loyal  to  the 
University  if  not  all  wealthy,  and  I  hope  at  some 
future  time  that  the  class  will  be  able  to  make 
a  creditable  supplemental  report. 

Mr.  Catlin  :  There  must  always  come  an  end 
to  an  occasion  of  this  kind.  I  now  therefore  re- 
gretfully declare  the  adjournment  of  this  most 
enjoyable  meeting  of  our  Associate  Alumni. 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  LAYING  OF  THE  COR- 
NER-STONE OF  THE  NEW 
MEDICAL  BUILDING 


BY    DEAN    H.  C.    TINKHAM,  M.    D.    1883 


I  consider  it  a  great  honor  to  be  present  in  this 
way  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  a  new 
building  for  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont.  It  is  an  occasion  that  I  have 
looked  forward  to  with  great  desire  for  ma^y  years. 

The  imperative  need  of  a  new  building  for  the 
Medical  Department  was  only  emphasized  by  the 
fire  of  last  December,  for  the  old  building  was  en- 
tirely inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  department, 
and  this  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  which  is  the 
assurance  that  there  is  to  be  a  new  building,  ample 
in  size,  convenient  in  arrangement,  and  equipped 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  modern  teaching, 
gives  me  as  much  satisfaction,  as  much  pleasure, 
as  any  personal  attainment  of  my  professional  life. 

It  gives  me  additional  pleasure  to  speak  for  this 
department  of  the  University  on  this  occasion,  for 
it  is  so  much  a  part  of  my  life  and  so  near  my 
heart,  that  it  is  always  a  pleasure  to  me  to  discuss 
it. 

14 


210  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

The  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Vermont  came  into  existence  eighty-three  years 
ago.  It  had  a  more  or  less  successful  life  for 
seventeen  years,  when  it  was  apparently  cut  off  in 
the  bloom  of  its  youth  ;  for  eighteen  years,  to  all 
appearances,  it  was  dead.  It  came  to  be  considered 
a  thing  of  the  past,  an  unsuccessful  venture  ;  but 
at  the  end  of  this  time  it  was  aroused  from  this 
condition  of  coma  in  which  it  had  been  so  long,  and 
for  the  past  fifty  years  (with  the  exception  of  some 
slight  functional  nervous  disturbances)  has  been  in 
a  healthy  condition  and  growing  stronger  and  better 
every  year. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years  there  has  been 
a  wonderful  advancement  in  the  knowledge  of 
medicine.  This  has  been  a  period  of  investigation 
and  research.  The  results  have  been  astonishing, 
and  have  revolutionized  the  older  ideas  of  medicine 
and  surgery.  The  work  in  pathology  and  bacter- 
iology especially  has  entirely  changed  the  idea  of 
the  cause  of  disease,  and  consequently  the  treat- 
ment. Many  diseases  that  have  baffled  the  phy- 
sician and  have  been  considered  incurable  are  now 
being  treated  successfully  to  recovery.  Diseases 
that  have  been  considered  uncontrollable  and  have 
swept  countries  and  localities  with  terrible  epi- 
demics attended  with  appalling  fatality,  have  been 
found  to  be  entirely  under  the  control  of  simple 
regulations.  If  epidemics  come  now,  it  is  because 
some  one  has  disregarded  the  well-known  rules  for 


H.   C.   TINKHAM'S   ADDRESS  211 

their  prevention.  The  advance  in  surgery  is  no 
less  wonderful  :  operations  are  being  done  every- 
day that  were  considered  impossible  ;  cases  are 
being  cured  by  the  application  of  surgical  ap- 
pliances that  were  left  without  treatment,  because 
as  yet  none  had  been  devised ;  and  surgical  con- 
ditions are  recognized  and  successfully  met  that 
have  gone  with  the  patient  to  the  churchyard  un- 
known. 

This  wonderful  advancement  in  medical  knowl- 
edge is  the  result  of  patient,  persistent  and  careful 
investigation  ;  investigation  as  to  the  cause  of 
disease,  investigation  of  the  effect  of  the  dis- 
ease on  the  body,  and  investigation  of  the  means  to 
destroy  the  germs  of  disease  either  before  or  after 
they  have  entered  the  body.  We  have  much  posi- 
tive knowledge  in  regard  to  these  things,  but  there 
is  still  much  to  be  discovered. 

The  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Vermont  has  also  been  progressive.  It  has 
accepted  as  facts,  new  ideas  in  medicine  and 
surgery  as  soon  as  they  have  been  proved,  and 
taught  them  to  its  students.  It  has  adopted  the 
most  approved  method  of  teaching.  It  has 
equipped  laboratories  for  teaching  the  newer 
methods  of  investigating  disease.  In  short,  it  has 
made  every  effort  to  take  advantage  of  all  modern 
ideas  and  methods  of  teaching  medicine. 

It  has  also  endeavored  to  maintain  a  satisfactory 
standard  of  medical  education.     That  it  has  done 


212  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

this  is  fully  attested  by  the  fact  that  the  graduates 
of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Vermont  are  admitted  to  the  regents'  examinations 
of  the  state  of  New  York,  for  license  to  practice 
medicine  in  New  York,  on  the  same  conditions  as 
graduates  of  the  medical  schools  of  that  state  ;  and 
also  by  the  fact  that  students  from  our  graduating 
classes  have  satisfactorily  passed  the  examinations 
of  the  State  Board  of  Massachusetts  and  received  a 
license  to  practice  medicine  in  that  state,  before 
completing  their  course  of  study  here. 

The  study  of  medicine  is  very  unlike  what  it 
was.  The  period  of  study  has  been  materially  in- 
creased. The  standard  of  requirements,  both  for 
preliminary  education  and  to  graduate  in  medicine, 
has  been  raised.  A  graded  course  of  instruction 
has  been  adopted,  and  laboratory  training  incorpor- 
ated in  the  curriculum. 

The  physician  of  today  must  be  more  thoroughly 
trained  in  every  way.  He  must  be  thoroughly 
conversant,  not  only  with  the  results  of  medical  re- 
search but  also  with  the  methods,  so  that  he  may 
be  able  to  apply  them  in  the  diagnosis  of  diseases 
which  he  may  be  called  to  treat. 

It  is  very  evident,  then,  that  a  medical  school,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  teach  well  and  to  graduate  well 
qualified  men,  must  have  sufficient  room  and  the 
necessary  equipment.  The  old  building,  as  I  have 
said,  had  become  entirely  inadequate  both  as  re- 
gards room  and   equipment    to    meet   the   present 


H.   C.   TINKHAM'S   ADDRESS  213 

requirements  of  the  department.  Rooms  for  var- 
ious laboratory  work  had  to  be  found  elsewhere, 
and  the  rooms  used  in  the  building  were  not 
adapted  to  the  present  work. 

The  proposed  new  building  has  been  planned  to 
meet  all  the  requirements  of  modern  medical  teach- 
ing. There  are  ample  lecture  rooms,  recitation 
rooms  and  laboratories.  There  are  rooms  for  prac- 
tical work  and  research  in  the  various  departments 
of  medicine.  It  is  to  be  a  plain  building  without 
ornamentation,  but  as  strong  in  character  as  it  is 
simple,  a  fine  addition  to  the  magnificent  group  of 
University  buildings. 

The  laying  of  this  corner-stone  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  depart- 
ment. With  the  additional  facilities  for  teaching 
that  will  be  available  in  the  new  building,  it  will 
do  better  work  and  graduate  men  better  qualified 
to  go  out  to  battle  with  disease  and  to  relieve  the 
suffering  of  the  unfortunate.  It  should  influence 
the  young  men  who  are  seeking  a  medical  educa- 
tion, and  who  would  naturally  come  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont  to  take  their  training  here 
instead  of  looking  to  other  institutions  for  it,  be- 
cause we  can  offer  them  as  good  facilities  for  study, 
and  as  good  instruction,  as  they  can  find  elsewhere, 
and  in  a  most  beautiful  city  free  from  many  of  the 
distracting  influences  of  larger  towns. 

The  University  of  Vermont  is  of  much  import- 
ance to  the  city  of  Burlington.     It  may  be  that  the 


214  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

coming  of  students  and  the  yearly  functions  at 
Commencement  time  have  come  to  be  considered  in 
such  a  matter-of-fact  way,  that  their  importance 
has  been  entirely  overlooked. 

A  university  town  receives  much  from  its  uni- 
versity in  culture  and  refinement  ;  much  in  the 
way  of  educational  and  elevating  influences ;  and 
much  in  social  opportunities.  Its  citizens  have  the 
opportunity  to  give  their  children  a  liberal  educa- 
tion at  very  much  less  expense  than  if  they  had  to 
go  away  from  home.  It  makes  the  city  a  more 
desirable  place  to  live  in,  and  so  attracts  a  desirable 
class  of  people  to  secure  homes  here.  And  finally, 
it  returns  directly  to  the  city  more  money  than 
the  city  receives  from  any  business  now  here. 

The  Medical  Department  makes  available  better 
qualified  physicians  and  surgeons  to  care  for  you 
when  you  are  sick ;  for  whether  the  physicians  of 
the  city  are  directly  connected  with  the  department 
or  not,  they  are  all  influenced  by  it  to  more  careful 
study  and  more  thorough  investigation. 

The  money  that  is  left  in  the  city  each  year  by 
the  students  of  the  Medical  Department  for  fees, 
board  and  incidental  expenses  is  equal  to  the  in- 
come of  a  million  and  a  half  dollars  at  six  per  cent. 

The  University  of  Vermont  is  glad  to  serve  the 
people  of  Burlington.  It  gives  us  delight  to  be 
able  to  give  you  the  opportunities  for  pleasure  and 
profit,  and  we  look  forward  with  pleasure  to  the 
possibility  of  being  able  to  serve  you  better. 


H.   C.   TINKHAM'S   ADDRESS  215 

And  now  in  closing  I  will  say,  that  there  will 
rise  on  this  corner-stone  a  new  building  for  the 
Medical  Department.  The  friends  of  the  Uni- 
versity will  come  forward  to  meet  this  most  urgent 
need  ;  many  have  already  done  so.  The  money  to 
make  this  building  possible  will  come  and  the 
department  will  go  on  to  a  brighter  and  better 
future. 


THE    CENTENNIAL  ORATION 


THE  CENTENNIAL  ORATION 


BY   D.    P.    KINGSLEY,  LE.  D. 


A   RETROSPECT 

In  "  As  You  Like  It,"  the  cynical,  worldly-wise 
Touchstone  asks  the  simple  countryman,  William, 
patronizingly,  and  with  something  of  a  sneer, 
"  Wast  born  i'  the  forest  here?"  and  William, 
answering,  and  unconsciously  expressing  at  the 
same  time  inborn  affection  for  the  fields  and  the 
Forest  of  Arden,  says:  "  Ay,  sir,  I  thank  God." 
If  to  us,  children  of  this  Forest  of  Arden,  some 
Touchstone  from  the  larger  world  should  come  to- 
day, full  of  wise  saws  and  patronage,  and  ask 
' '  Wast  born  i'  Vermont  here  ?  ' '  the  same  answer, 
breathing  the  same  affection,  would  come  from 
each  as  quick  and  as  pat  as  from  William,  and  with 
more  meaning:  "Ay,  sir,  I  thank  God."  Whether 
we  claim  fellowship  here  by  birth  or  blood  or  train- 
ing, or  by  all  three,  affection  is  the  same.  Our 
affection  for  everything  that  bears  the  sign-manual 
of  the  University,  our  respect  for  anything  that 
comes  out  of  these  green  hills,  are  unreasoning,  no 
doubt,  but  we  love  that  very  unreason  and  we  pity 
people  who  have  no  such  heritage.     If,   therefore, 


220  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

we*  briefly  give  this  unreason  rein,  and  for  a 
moment  lightly  follow  whithersoever  it  leads,  may 
we  not  plead — if  justification  be  sought — that  the 
traditions,  the  memories,  the  affections,  the  cus- 
toms, the  hopes,  the  fears,  and  the  heroisms  cen- 
tered in  these  celebrations,  once  invoked,  have 
cabalistic  powers  and,  in  turn,  arouse  spirits  not 
easily  controlled — spirits  that  bring  to  our  quick- 
ened sensibilities,  through  the  dim  aisles  of  tradi- 
tion or  perhaps  over  the  unmeasured  seas  of  heredity 
and  subconsciousness,  the  din  of  battles  that  reach 
from  Ticonderoga  to  Gettysburg, — the  story  of  a 
struggle  that  began  with  Daniel  Clarke  Sanders  in 
1800  and  will  be  transmitted  by  the  class  of  1904. 

This  is  our  second  Jubilee.  Fifty  years  ago  the 
University  of  Vermont  summoned  her  children 
home,  and  with  becoming  dignity  and  great  pride 
reviewed  the  history  that  had  then  been  made.  In 
glad  obedience  to  a  like  summons,  we  are  now 
assembled  at  the  One  Hundredth  Commencement. 

Normally,  we  are  rational  men  and  women, — 
some  of  us  still  young,  some  of  us  almost  old,  but 
today  we  are  all  young  and,  we  confess,  a  little 
irrational.  Age  is  a  matter  of  the  mind,  and  if  we 
choose  to  say  that  we  are  an  hundred  years  young, 
— to  assume  that  the  fellowship  of  scholars  is  like 
the  Communion  of  the  Saints, — the  century  be- 
comes not  an  expression  of  distance  or  a  measure 
of  time,  but  an  audience  chamber  into  which  this 
summons  of  Alma  Mater  has  brought  every  saint, 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  221 

every  hero  and  every  scholar,  living  or  dead,  who 
belongs  to  this  Gild. 

Our  irrationality  takes  that  form  and  pleases 
itself  with  that  conceit.  Therefore,  while  we  see 
and  honor  the  men  who  represent  the  organic  life 
of  the  University  and  the  State,  we  also  see  with 
them  another,  a  larger,  a  most  distinguished  com- 
pany— men  of  heroic  mould,  men  from  our  heroic 
age,  men  who  dared  much,  suffered  much,  achieved 
much ;  men  who,  in  the  perspective  of  history, 
loom  so  large  that,  seeing  them,  we  are  disposed  to 
cry  with  Donne: 

"We  are  scarce  our  fathers'  shadows,  cast  at  noon." 

With  the  undergraduates  we  see  other  young 
men  and  women,  with  faces  as  eager,  in  lines  of 
various  lengths,  but  an  hundred  deep  ;  all  the  pro- 
cessions of  all  Commencement  Days  coalesce ;  the 
class  of  1804  marches  with  the  class  of  1904,  and 
is  as  young. 

The  life  of  a  century  is  here  and  reveals  itself 
with  a  certainty  of  touch  and  a  clearness  of  vision 
that  surpass  reality.  If  I  could  project  upon  a 
screen  the  pictures  which  your  memories  hold,  and 
with  them  the  scenes  that  this  other  silent  but  not 
unreal  company  would  depict,  and  move  them  in 
panorama  before  all  eyes,  they  would  record  the 
struggles  of  this  College  and  of  the  State  as  they 
can  never  be  written.  That  we  cannot  give  them 
material  color  and  form  does  not  detract  at  all  from 
their  reality.     The  picture  that  is  so  vivid  to  you, 


222  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

however,  is  probably  beyond  the  vision  of  your 
neighbor.  We  have  all  been  touched  with  Hamlet's 
madness,  and  see  that  which  arouses  our  very  souls 
where  other  eyes  see  nothing. 

In  our  fanciful  audience  chamber  there  are  vari- 
ous groups:  there  are  the  men  of  the  Revolution 
and  of  Vermont's  period  of  independence  ;  the  men 
of  the  first  half-century  and  of  the  first  Jubilee;  the 
men  of  the  last  half -century;  the  men  of  the 
present   day. 

Was  there  ever  another  such  story  as  that  which 
tells  how  the  territory  between  Lake  Champlain 
and  the  Connecticut  River  came  to  be  an  inde- 
pendent republic  and  then  a  State  of  the  Union? 
Is  there  recorded  a  finer  struggle  for  human 
freedom  ?  Every  State  in  the  Union  has  an  in- 
spiring history,  but  no  other  in  the  entire  forty-five 
has  such  a  history  as  Vermont. 

The  men  who  settled  the  New  Hampshire  Grants 
were  first  of  all  pioneers — men  of  imagination  and 
courage  and  resources.  They  may  have  been  in  the 
place  of  their  earlier  abode,  down  in  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut,  a  bit  rebellious,  a  little  hard  to 
manage.  I  have  read  something  to  that  effect,  but 
as  that  charge  was  justly  made  against  the  Puri- 
tans themselves,  it  only  adds  to  the  interest  of  what- 
ever our  fathers  did.  They  spread  out  through  the 
forest  to  the  North  and  toward  Lake  Champlain, 
taking  title  to  their  lands  from  Benning  Wentworth, 
of  New  Hampshire.      They  had  scarcely  cleared 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  223 

the  forest  and  built  their  cabins  when  the  office- 
holding  land-grabbers  of  New  York,  an  enemy  more 
dangerous  than  the  Indian,  descended  upon  them. 
They  resisted,  of  course,  and  their  resistance  was 
both  effective  and  picturesque.  In  the  midst  of 
this  struggle  for  their  homes  came  the  fight  at 
Lexington  and  at  Concord,  following  years  of  more 
or  less  open  rebellion  in  the  Colonies. 

In  that  hour  of  confusion  and  disorganization 
and  doubt,  out  of  the  North,  from  what  then  seemed 
almost  No-man's  Land,  came  the  first  clear,  aggres- 
sive note  of  defiance  and  of  victory. 

Three  weeks  after  the  "  embattled  farmers"  had 
stood 

"  By  the  rude  bridge  that  arched  the  flood, 
#  *•  #  #  *  # 

And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world  ' ' 
Ethan  Allen  and  his  little  band  of  Green  Mountain 
Boys  electrified  the  Colonies  by  taking  possession 
of  all  this  frontier  in  the  name  of  the  Continental 
Congress.  Allen  claimed  that  day  to  hold  two 
commissions,  one  from  Jehovah  and  one  from  the 
Continental  Congress.  Woodrow  Wilson  says  that 
he  held  neither.  It  is  certain  that  he  did  not  hold 
the  latter;  but  history,  more  veracious  than  "A 
History  of  the  American  People,"  has  since  made 
his  claim  to  the  former  reasonably  good.  This  was 
the  first  victory  of  the  Revolution  ;  it  was  the  first 
aggressive  act  of  war ;  the  first  time  that  Colonists 
assumed   the    offensive    and   attacked   the  Crown. 


224  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Senator  Hoar  in  his  ' '  Autobiography  of  Seventy 
Years"  says  that  John  Bnttrick's  order  to  fire  was 
given  to  British  subjects,  but  it  was  obeyed  by 
American  citizens. 

The  men  who  crept  at  daybreak  under  the  walls 
of  Ticonderoga,  struck  down  a  British  sentinel, 
demanded  that  the  British  colors  be  lowered,  and 
actually  lowered  them,  demanded  and  received  the 
surrender  of  the  troops  of  his  Majesty,  King  George 
III.,  were  certainly  no  longer  British  subjects, 
neither  were  they  American  citizens.  They  were, 
as  yet,  not  even  Vermonters  ;  they  were  just  rebels 
without  a  government  and  almost  without  a  country. 
That  they  were  rebels  probably  disturbed  them  less 
than  a  like  status  disturbed  the  Colonists.  They 
were  used  to  it.  They  had  been  in  open  rebellion 
against  New  York  for  years,  and  Allen  and,  indeed, 
most  of  their  distinguished  citizens,  had  been 
branded  as  felons  by  that  State. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  by  the  Colo- 
nists at  Philadelphia  in  1776  was  followed  with  a 
declaration  of  independence  by  Vermont,  which,  in 
its  way,  was  quite  as  great.  There  were  thirteen 
Colonies,  the  smallest  of  which  was  more  populous 
and  wealthy  than  Vermont.  The  men  of  Vermont 
stood  alone,  without  so  much  as  a  clear  title  to 
their  homes,  without  right  to  representation  in 
Congress  or  protection  against  attack,  on  the 
extreme  frontier  in  the  very  track  of  invasion  ;  yet 
they  met,  declared  themselves  an  independent  State 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  225 

and  adopted  a  fundamental  law,  which  in  its  sanity, 
its  declaration  against  slavery,  its  provision  for 
public  education,  up  to  and  including  the  Univer- 
sity, is  unique,  and  will  forever  hold  an  honorable 
place  in  the  history  of  the  development  of  nations. 
On  that  foundation  they  organized  a  Common- 
wealth which  preserved  its  autonomy  for  fourteen 
years. 

Bennington,  in  1777,  where  again  the  men  from 
the  Green  Mountains  bore  so  distinguished  a  part, 
was  to  the  struggling  Colonies  almost  like  another 
Ticonderoga.  Indeed,  there  was  no  hour  in  that 
seven  years'  fight  when  Vermont  was  less  desper- 
ately involved  than  the  Colonies  themselves.  Yet, 
when  the  war  was  over,  Vermont  was  denied  the 
fruits  of  the  common  victory.  She  was  not  only 
denied  the  fruits  of  the  victory  she  had  helped  to 
win,  but  plans  were  perfected  to  dispose  of  her  as 
Europe  disposed  of  Poland.  She  pleaded  long  in 
vain ;  she  sent  appeals  to  Congress,  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  the  Colonies,  sepa- 
rately. The  people  heard  and  understood  her.  They 
were  pioneers,  too,  and  they  knew  for  what  Vermont 
was  pleading ;  they  knew  what  it  meant  to  conquer 
homes  in  a  land  "filled  with  savages,  scorpions 
and  beasts  of  prey  " ,  as  one  of  these  public  appeals 
puts  it.  When  Ira  Allen  laid  the  plan  and  Thomas 
Chittenden  called  on  the  contiguous  territory  for 
help,  that  territory  responded  with  open  rebellion 

15 


226  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

against  their  own  States.  Here  the  Founder  of 
this  University  rendered  his  greatest  service  to  the 
State.  He  drove  off  the  wolves  that  would  have 
dismembered  Vermont ;  he  saved  her  from  the 
enticing  offers  of  Great  Britain,  and  finally  placed 
her  in  the  galaxy  of  States. 

In  scrutinizing,  therefore,  the  figures  in  the 
group  representing  our  heroic  age,  the  eye  natu- 
rally rests  first  on  Ira  Allen.  We  are  proud  of  the 
other  Aliens,  of  the  Chittendens,  the  Warners,  the 
Bakers,  the  Fays  and  the  Robinsons,  but  Ira  Allen 
not  only  served  the  State  brilliantly — saved  the 
State  probably — but  he  finally  put  into  definite 
form  in  this  University  the  ideas  of  human  freedom 
and  higher  education  which  actuated  all  the  men 
of  that  time.  No  college  in  all  the  hundreds  now 
existing  in  the  United  States  sprang  from  finer 
seed. 

In  this  audience  proper  is  a  little  handful  of  men 
who  attended  that  first  great  festival.  They  saw 
and  talked  with  the  three  survivors  of  the  class  of 
1804.  By  touch  and  sight,  therefore,  the  visible 
part  of  this  audience  has  been  in  direct  contact  with 
the  Eighteenth  Century ;  with  the  time  of 
Vermont's  admission  into  the  Union ;  with  the 
period  of  Vermont's  independence  ;  with  the  date 
of  the  College  Charter ;  almost  with  the  date  when 
the  idea  of  this  University  first  found  a  place  in 
the  Constitution  of  1777. 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  227 

To  the  men  who  saw  it,  that  first  Jubilee  is  a 
reality  still ;  to  us  who  did  not  see  it,  it  is  today- 
no  less  a  reality.  Its  spirit  is  here.  The  men 
who  made  that  occasion  memorable  are  here  in  our 
larger  audience.     Let  us  call  some  of  them  forth. 

On  more  than  one  occassion  during-  that  festival, 
Jacob  Collamer  presided.  Jacob  Collamer  !  A 
name  that  suggests  the  dignity  of  Jove ;  a  fame 
of  like  quality.  On  the  Committee  having  the 
celebration  in  charge  was  Henry  J.  Raymond, 
that  brilliant  son,  whose  like,  I  fear,  our  half- 
century  cannot  show  !  George  Wyllys  Benedict 
was  there  and  made  an  address.  George  Wyllys 
Benedict !  who,  as  a  young  man,  found  the  Uni- 
versity homeless  and  almost  penniless  ;  who, 
nevertheless,  gave  a  service  so  fine  that  it  has 
placed  him  amongst  our  Immortals ;  by  his  per- 
sonal service  and  the  service  and  loyalty  of  his  sons 
and  grandsons,  he  is  in  every  page  of  our  history 
since  1825.  Frederick  Billings  signed  a  telegram 
of  congratulation  from  California  to  the  Committee 
in  charge.  Frederick  Billings  !  the  great  pioneer, 
the  empire  builder,  the  princely  benefactor  ! 

Of  the  leading  addresses  on  that  memorable 
occasion  College  fame  declares  that  the  ' '  Historical 
Discourse ' '  of  ex-President  Wheeler  is  one  of  the 
great  documents  of  the  University,  and  that  the 
Oration  by  James  R.  Spalding  was  one  of  the  finest 
utterances  of  philosophical  radicalism  ever  pro- 
nounced on  any  academic  occasion. 


228  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

The  students  of  that  day  are  in  our  larger  audi- 
ence also — and  what  men  they  were  !  McKendree 
Petty  was  then  a  tutor,  having  graduated  five  years 
before  ;  in  him  dwelt  some  of  the  great  qualities  of 
Mark  Hopkins.  Something  of  him  is  in  many  of 
us,  and  for  that,  as  well  as  our  Vermont  birthright, 
we  are  thankful.  Matthew  Hale  had  graduated 
only  three  years  earlier,  and  Henry  Augustus  Pier- 
son  Torrey  entered  College  the  following  autumn. 
Early  or  late,  there  are  no  finer  names  than  these, 
no  stronger,  no  gentler,  no  wiser  men.  May  I  add, 
— though  I  am  not  supposed  to  speak  of  the  living 
— that  the  period  also  produced  Matthew  Henry 
Buckham,  John  Ellsworth  Goodrich,  John  Heman 
Converse,  and  others  of  like  quality. 

Other  names  appear,  of  such  distinction  that  the 
celebration  seems  an  event  of  a  quality  not  likely 
ever  to  be  surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
versity. 

The  Rev.  John  Wheeler  in  his  historical  address 
on  that  occasion  dwelt  on  the  danger  of  frequent 
changes  in  the  administration  of  a  college.  In  our 
first  half-century  we  suffered  on  that  account.  But 
in  our  second  half-century  we  have  been  blessed, 
indeed  almost  distinguished,  by  the  length  of  ser- 
vice of  certain  men,  and  by  an  administration  which, 
in  some  sense,  comprehends  the  entire  period. 

These  names  so  cover  the  last  fifty  years,  and 
have  throughout  wrought  in  such  harmony,  that 
they  take  on  the  force  and  the  majesty  of  a  clear 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  229 

purpose  that  goes  direct  toward  a  goal :  Torrey, 
Petty,  Barbour,  Perkins,  Emerson,  Goodrich,  Buck- 
ham. 

Quite  two-thirds  of  our  half-century  is  techni- 
cally comprised  within  the  administration  which 
today  directs  the  fortunes  of  the  College.  From 
it  the  greater  number  of  this  audience  got  their 
training.  It  began  nominally  in  1871,  but  its  spirit 
was  in  the  College  during  the  brilliant  administra- 
tion of  President  Angell ;  it  was  developing  during 
the  Civil  War ;  it  was  at  work  when  Senator  Mor- 
rill secured  for  the  University  a  second  foundation  ; 
indeed,  it  took  its  beginning  in  the  heart  and  char- 
acter and  mind  of  a  student  who  graduated  three 
years  before  that  first  Jubilee.  From  1847  to  1904 
— fifty-seven  years — there  has  been  no  hour  when 
the  University  of  Vermont  has  not  been  the  hope, 
the  ambition  and,  for  forty-seven  years,  the  care  of 
Matthew  Henry  Buckham.  I  know  of  no  parallel 
to  this  length  of  service  in  any  American  college. 
In  addition,  apply  what  test  you  like  to  the  Univer- 
sity today ;  apply  the  same  test  to  the  University 
as  it  was  in  1854  ;  then  measure  the  advance, — 
estimate  the  achievement !  In  his  presence  I  am 
not  permitted  to  say  what  I  would,  but  as  I  know 
of  no  longer,  so  I  am  bound  to  say  I  know  of  no 
finer,  service.  I  know  of  no  broader  administra- 
tion ;  this  has  kept  the  institution  modern.  I  know 
of  no  administration  with  higher  ideals  ;  this  has 
kept  the  institution  sound.     I  know  of  no  serener 


230  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

courage, — courage  that  has  labored  on  when  days 
were  drear  and  the  outlook  gloomy. 

The  administration  of  President  Buckham  has 
secured  for  the  College  about  all  its  buildings,  sub- 
stantially all  its  equipment,  and  all  its  permanent 
funds  derived  from  voluntary  contributions.  It  has 
brought,  not  only  the  usual  college  course,  but  the 
instruction  planned  by  Senator  Morrill,  close  to  the 
people  of  the  State.  It  has  increased  the  number 
of  students  five-fold.  It  has  given,  perhaps,  the 
most  distinguished  example  of  co-education  in 
higher  education.  The  Medical  College,  after  a 
striking  period  of  success  and  steady  advancement 
in  its  standards,  has  finally  been  made  a  College  in 
the  University.  All  the  departments  that  seem 
strange  and  very  modern  to  many  of  us  have  grown 
up  within  this  period,  and  a  course  of  study  deter- 
mined largely  by  the  students'  election  has  been 
tested  as  fully,  perhaps,  as  in  any  college  in  the 
land. 

The  nearer  we  get  to  the  present  the  more  effect- 
ive the  administration  of  the  University  becomes, 
and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  has  seen  more  accomplished  in  matters 
which  insure  the  perpetuity  of  the  University,  than 
was  accomplished  in  the  previous  seventy-five  years. 

Men  live  again  in  their  children.  The  immor- 
tality that  comes  to  men  through  children  is  as 
certain  as  anything  we  know.  The  birth  of  a  but- 
terfly symbolizes  the  beginning  of  the  life  Eternal, 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  231 

but  the  birth  of  a  child  takes  Immortality  out  of 
the  realm  of  speculation  and  dogma.  Institutions 
play  the  same  part  in  the  life  of  ideas,  principles 
and  men.  The  ideas  and  the  men  of  1804,  the 
ideas  and  the  men  of  1854,  are  a  living  force  in  the 
University  and  in  us.  We  are  here  to  acknowledge 
this  and  humbly  to  pledge  an  honest  effort  to  main- 
tain the  standards  and  the  faith  of  the  Fathers.  To 
our  Saints  and  Heroes, — to  the  men  of  1777,  of 
1791,  of  1804,  of  1854,  we  offer  that  homage  which, 
in  the  Bast,  has  become  a  religion.  We  proudly 
claim  from  them  our  blood,  our  beliefs,  our  history, 
our  traditions, — even  our  superstitions.  To  the 
little  band  who  were  participants  in  that  first 
Jubilee,  who  take  us  by  elbow  touch  to  the  very 
birth-hour  of  the  University,  we  uncover.  Across 
the  intervening  years,  down  the  long  line  stretching 
back  through  the  century,  we  hail  all  others,  living 
or  dead,  whose  virtues  are  enshrined  in  this  Insti- 
tution and  perpetuated  in  the  good  learning  and 
sound  manhood  of  the  Nation. 

With  them  we  turn  our  faces  toward  the  future. 

A     PROSPECT 

Facing  the  problems  of  the  hour  and  of  the 
future,  the  University  of  Vermont  has  points  of 
surpassing  strength.  She  has,  first  of  all,  the 
strength  of  unselfishness.  No  college  for  a  century 
has  given,  more  continuously,  to  the  world,  and  re- 
ceived from  outside  less  in  return.     It   has    been 


232  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

the  unique  mission  of  this  institution,  and  of  this 
State,  to  produce  men  of  unusual  moral  fibre, 
endow  them  here  with  a  higher  education,  and  then 
send  them  out  to  build  other  commonwealths  and 
found  other  colleges. 

The  University  has  also  the  strength  that  comes 
from  the  rare  quality  of  the  youth  who  seek  her 
tutelage. 

No  one  has  drawn  the  picture  of  a  Vermont 
home,  from  this  view-point,  better  than  McLaren 
in  his  story  of  George  Howe.     He  says  : 

"There   was   just   a    single    ambition    in    these 

"humble  homes,  to  have  one  of  its  members  at 

"college,  and  if  Domsie  approved  a  lad,  then  his 

"brothers  and  sisters  would   give    their   wages, 

"and  the  family  would  live  on   skim  milk  and 

"oat  cake,  to  let  him  have  his  chance." 

George    Howe   has    entered    this    College    and 

graduated  from  it  many  times.     Such  homes    are 

scattered  all  through  these  green  hills.     The  spirit 

of  that  Scotch  family  surrounded  the  early  youth 

of  many  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  have  passed  this 

way  on  their  journey  to  manhood  and  womanhood 

and  distinction. 

This  fact  was  also  in  my  mind  when  I  said  a 
moment  ago  that  no  college  in  all  the  land  sprang 
from  finer  seed;  and  I  now  add,  no  other  college  in 
the  land  has  such  material  to  work  on  today. 

The  graduate  of  this  University  should  quickly 
become  a  man  who  is  felt.      He  has  a  way  of  look- 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  233 

ing  the  world  squarely  in  the  eye,  and  he  isn't 
afraid.  He  doesn't  know  how  to  be  afraid — doesn't 
know  enough  of  the  things  that  make  other  men 
timid.  He  hasn't  been  spoiled  by  the  pressure  of 
the  mob.  He  doesn't  waste  time  on  the  artificiali- 
ties of  life,  on  which  most  men  fritter  away  their 
strength  ;  he  goes  direct  to  the  matter,  straight  to 
the  heart  of  accomplishment.  He  expects  to  work. 
He  knows  how. 

The  quality  of  leadership  is  in  the  very  soul  of 
such  boys.  They  are  clear-eyed,  deep-chested. 
They  instinctively  use  the  Bismarckian  theory  of 
diplomacy  and  tell  the  truth.  They  may  have  few 
of  the  so-called  graces  of  life,  they  may  be  to  the 
world  a  little  uncouth  at  first,  but  they  usually  take 
possession  of  the  world  while  it  is  smiling  at  them. 
They  become  leaders  by  sheer  moral  force  and 
intellectual  integrity. 

If  the  history  of  her  first  century  is  to  be  in  so 
far  repeated,  and  it  probably  will  be,  this  University 
will  continue  giving,  she  will  continue  to  send  forth 
to  other  States  a  very  large  part  of  her  own  product, 
a  considerable  measure  of  the  very  substance  of  the 
State. 

Happily  the  larger  world  into  which  our  men 
must  go  is  calling  for  them  loudly  just  now.  There 
is  work  to  do.  There  are  new  careers  waiting; 
waiting  for  men  who  are  strong  enough  to  meet 
extraordinary  requirements. 


234  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

What  that  work  is,  what  these  careers  may  be, 
let  us  consider. 

I  have  said  there  are  new  careers.  This  implies 
the  judgment  that  the  learned  professions  no  longer 
offer  the  highest  and  best  opportunity  to  the  scholar. 

For  today,  and  for  as  much  of  the  future  as  may 
be  included  in  a  modest  forecast,  the  largest  oppor- 
tunities in  this  country  are  not  in  the  professions 
and,  in  my  judgment,  will  not  be  again  soon,  if 
ever.  The  great  opportunities — the  very  great 
careers  of  the  future,  are  in  what,  from  lack  of  a 
better  name,  I  call  business. 

In  society  as  it  existed  in  the  Colonies  and  for 
nearly  a  century  later,  the  place  of  the  professions 
was  unchallenged  and  unchallengeable ;  but  a 
change  has  come,  latterly  a  challenge  has  gone 
forth  and  a  trial  of  strength  has  been  had  which, 
while  it  has  not  shown  any  real  degeneration  in  the 
professions,  has  shown  the  existence  of  new  condi- 
tions, offering  careers  more  brilliant,  more  useful, 
and  more  satisfying. 

The  currents  of  life  have  shifted  and  opportunity, 
as  a  result,  lies  in  somewhat  strange  fields.  As  life 
has  changed  types  have  changed.  Certain  qualities 
that  were  supposed  to  be  the  peculiar  property  of 
the  professions  have  strayed  and  have  even  wonder- 
full  v  flourished  in  new  environments. 

Initiative  and  real  leadership  have  decidedly 
shifted  their  habitat.  The  most  prophetic,  power- 
ful and   useful  type    of  citizen   in    our  civilization 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  235 

has  come  to  be  the  man  of  action,  the  man  of 
affairs.  He  is  useful  because  he  is  close  to  life  as 
it  is ;  he  is  powerful  because  he  understands  life  as 
it  is  ;  he  is  prophetic  because  he  understands  some- 
thing of  life  as  it  is  to  be.  He  may  or  may  not 
have  been  in  the  professions  earlier.  He  may  or 
may  not  have  earned  a  degree.  His  learning  may 
have  come  from  books  or  from  men.  These  are 
minor  considerations.  His  problem  is  the  thing — 
and  his  problem  is  Life, — teeming,  quivering, 
fighting  Life. 

The  power,  responsibility  and  character  of  men 
of  this  class  is  now  such  that  college-bred  men  will 
seek  similar  careers  hereafter  or  miss  the  highest 
opportunity.  Such  careers,  moreover,  appeal  pow- 
erfully to  the  College  Ideal,  once  their  real  scope  is 
understood. 

A  distinguished  divine  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  said  that  in  the  settlement  of 
the  Colonies  ' '  God  sifted  a  whole  nation  that  He 
might  send  choice  grain  into  His  wilderness."  If 
that  preacher  were  alive  now  and  knew  the  story 
of  the  last  one  hundred  years,  he  would  realize  that 
this  sifting  process  was  not  confined  to  his  time  or 
to  one  nation.  The  world  has  been  sifted  and  is 
being  sifted  for  "  choice  grain."  We  have  built  a 
nation  by  the  strangest  process  ever  seen.  It  began 
when  Vermont  pointed  the  way  of  empire  in  1791. 
It  has  gone  on  until  the  Thirteen  Original  States 
have  become  forty-five.     In  the  entire  process,  if 


236  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

we  except  the  happenings  in  connection  with  the 
Mexican  War,  we  can  fairly  state  that  no  province 
was  ravished, — none  of  the  usual  programme  of 
nations  was  carried  out.  State  after  State  was  pre- 
sented to  our  Republic  by  the  instinct  of  the  nations. 
The  people  rose  up  all  over  the  world  ;  they  came 
to  us.     We  did  not  go  out  and  conquer  them. 

It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  anywhere  historically 
a  clearer  point  of  departure  than  that  which  marks 
the  establishment  of  the  independence  of  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies.  This  arises  not  alone  from  the  fact 
that  then  a  nation  was  born, — nor  from  the  fact  that 
certain  great  principles  of  human  freedom  laid 
down  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  were  then 
embodied  in  the  Constitution,  but  from  a  fact  which 
becomes  clearer  as  our  development  progresses. 
The  millions  of  the  world  have  come  to  us  not 
altogether  because  they  believed  in  our  Constitution 
and  in  our  Institutions,  but  actuated  by  one  of  those 
mysterious  impulses  which  have,  through  all  time, 
resulted  in  wonderful  movements  amongst  the 
people,  without  any  clear  knowledge  on  their  part 
of  why  they  moved  or  what  they  would  ultimately 
achieve.  It  was  such  a  movement  as,  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  earth,  submerged  continents  and 
raised  new  ones  from  the  deep.  The  people  wanted 
land ;  they  wanted  to  escape  certain  institutions 
which  crushed  and  smothered  ;  they  wanted  free- 
dom to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
conscience ;  but    down     underneath    the)''    wanted 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  237 

something  more.  They  wanted  a  new  civilization  ; 
they  wanted  a  society  based  on  a  readjustment  of 
things,  based  on  such  conquest  of  the  forces  of 
nature  as  would  make  life  worth  while,  based  on 
the  doctrine  that  men  should  co-operate  with  and 
not  slay  each  other.  As  a  result,  about  every  ship 
sailing  or  steaming  westward,  since  Columbus  an- 
chored his  caravels  off  San  Salvador,  has  carried  a 
freight  of  humanity  full  of  rebellion  against  what 
was  behind, — full  of  hope  as  to  the  new  world.  An 
Englishman,  writing  anonymously,  has  lately 
briefed  the  story  and  stated  the  existing  condition 
from  the  European  point  of  view,  as  follows  : 

"For  a  century  past  she  (America)  has  drawn  to 
herself,  by  an  irresistible  attraction,  the  boldest,  the 
most  masterful,  the  most  practically  intelligent  of 
the  spirits  of  Europe ;  just  as  by  the  same  law  she 
has  repelled  the  sensitive,  the  contemplative,  and 
the  devout.  Unconsciously,  by  the  mere  fact  of  her 
existence,  she  has  sifted  the  nations.  The  children 
of  the  spirit  have  slipped  through  the  iron  net  of  her 
destinies,  but  the  children  of  the  world  she  has 
gathered  into  her  granaries.  *  *  *  Over  her  unen- 
cumbered plains  the  genius  of  industry  ranges 
unchallenged,  naked,  unashamed.  *  *  *  Endowed 
above  all  the  nations  of  the  world  with  intelligence, 
energy  and  force, — unhampered  by  the  splendid 
ruins  of  the  past  which,  however  great,  does  but 
encumber  in  the  old  world,  with  fears,  hesitations 
and   regrets,    the   difficult  march  to  the  promised 


238  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

land  of  the  future, — combining  the  magnificent 
enthusiasm  of  youth  with  the  wariness  of  mature 
years, — animated  by  a  confidence  almost  religious 
in  their  own  destiny,  the  American  people  are  called 
upon,  it  would  seem,  to  determine  in  a  pre-eminent 
degree,  the  form  that  is  to  be  assumed  by  the  society 
of  the  future ;  upon  them  hangs  the  fate  of  the 
Western  World." 

I  quote  this  because  it  is  the  usual  view  of  the 
foreign  critic,  and  of  some  of  our  own  household. 
But  it  is  neither  correct  nor  fair.  It  is  a  criticism 
with  all  its  flattering  admissions  planned  to  lead  to 
a  certain  conclusion.  It  is  born  of  a  desire  to 
explain  away  a  part  of  our  success,  of  a  purpose  to 
show  that  we  are  surely  coming  to  disaster  in  the 
further  development  of  the  country. 

We  have  sifted  the  nations,  but  the  sifting  has 
not  been  that  generally  claimed  and  usually  admit- 
ted. We  have  done  more  than  attract  the  bold,  the 
masterful,  the  practically  intelligent.  The  enor- 
mous energy  of  this  country  is  not  so  much  the 
result  of  power  assembled,  as  of  power  evolved. 
Humanity  has  here  developed  a  new  capacity  for 
work,  new  boldness  in  attempting  problems,  new 
ingenuity  in  utilizing  the  forces  of  nature.  So 
swiftly  has  this  gone  forward,  so  great  is  its  present 
progress,  that  in  1920  (so  statisticians  tell  us)  the 
mechanical  energy  of  this  nation  will,  in  the  aggre- 
gate, equal  the  mechanical  energy  of  all  Europe  at 
that  time,  with  three-fold  our  population.    In  other 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  239 

words,  we  are  within  reach  of  the  day  when,  in  the 
use  of  what  has  come  to  be  the  most  necessary 
implement  of  commerce  and  progress,  every  Ameri- 
can will  be  the  equal  of  three  Europeans. 

We  have  sifted  the  nations,  but  with  the  bold, 
the  masterful  and  the  intelligent  we  have  attracted 
the  gentle,  the  devout,  the  contemplative.  Indeed, 
these  qualities  usually  go  together,  if  either  is  to  be 
of  use  to  the  world.  Such  a  segregation  as  this  critic 
claims,  might  or  might  not  portend  trouble  for  us, 
but  it  would  leave  a  lot  of  weaklings  in  Europe — 
who,  with  all  devotion  and  gentleness,  would  neces- 
sarily be  impotent. 

The  bold  spirit  is  usually  gentle  ;  the  intelligent 
man  is,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  devout ; 
the  masterful  man  usually  has  ideals  to  the  fur- 
therance of  which  he  bends  other  men's  wills. 

We  have  taken  fully  as  much  spirituality  as  force 
from  Europe. 

Under  a  programme,  which  for  the  first  time 
completely  unshackled  industry,  resulting  in  un- 
precedented business  activity,  the  qualities  which 
are  supposed  to  adorn  a  ripened  civilization  have 
not  as  yet  greatly  asserted  themselves ;  spiritual 
evolution  has  naturally  not  advanced  as  rapidly  as 
has  the  evolution  of  energy  and  industry.  But  the 
Civil  War  tells  whether  sacrifice  for  principle  is 
still  possible,  and  the  Spanish  War  records  an  act 
in  defense  of  the  oppressed  so  quixotic  that  Europe 
has  only  just  begun  to  accept  its  good  faith. 


240  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

That  we  should  have  in  us  a  spirit  of  sacrifice 
that  does  not  calculate  the  cost,  and  capacity  on 
occasion  for  almost  fanatical  devotion  to  principle, 
is  not  strange. 

There  has  been  that  in  all  our  history  which  has 
appealed  to  the  lovers  of  peace  and  justice  and  spiri- 
tual liberty  even  more  powerfully  than  other 
qualities  have  appealed  to  the  restless  and  the 
adventurous. 

The  outburst  of  physical  force  which  followed  the 
complete  opportunity  presented  here  has  so  bewil- 
dered and  amazed  the  Old  World  that  it  does  not 
see  the  other  side  of  our  development,  and  does  not 
understand  that  in  the  fulness  of  time  the  work  of 
the  children  of  the  spirit  promises  to  be  even  more 
wonderful  than  the  work  of  the  children  of  the 
world.  By  way  of  forecast  let  us  note  in  contrast  a 
few  familiar  conditions. 

Kurope  was  never  so  nearly  an  armed  camp  as  it 
is  today.  The  conditions  which  formerly  made  a 
man  spend  the  best  years  of  his  life  preparing  to 
cut  his  neighbor's  throat  still  persist.  The  old  in- 
stitutions still  call  for  a  dole  of  blood.  Here  civili- 
zation is  built  on  lines  which  utilize  every  power 
of  society  in  production ;  industry  is  indeed  ' '  un- 
ashamed," and  has  taken  not  merely  a  new,  but 
the  leading  place. 

We  are  said  to  have  attracted  the  masterful  and 
repelled  the  sensitive.     Then  it  would  appear  that 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  241 

the  masterful  love  peace   and  the  sensitive  desire 
war ;  that  the  bold  build  up  and  the  devout  destroy. 

Here  is  a  civilization  based  on  production  ;  there 
is  a  society  in  which  nearly  every  energy  is  exhaust- 
ed in  preparation  for  destruction. 

For  example,  an  hundred  tons  of  steel  is  there 
cast  into  a  great  gun  ;  here  it  is  fashioned  into  a 
locomotive.  Does  the  gun  represent  spirituality 
and  does  the  locomotive  represent  only  force  ?  Or 
does  the  gun  represent  privilege  and  a  denial  of 
human  rights,  and  the  locomotive  represent  human 
hope  and  human  comfort  and  a  distinct  victory  over 
natural  forces  that  otherwise  shrivel  the  spirit?  By 
some  perversion  of  logic,  the  instrument  of  destruc- 
tion is  supposed  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of 
art,  with  the  love  of  beauty, — while  the  engine  of 
production  is  held  to  be  without  appeal  to  such 
sentiments. 

A  billion  dollars  spent  on  a  standing  army,  the 
argument  is,  does  not  interfere  with  the  spirit  of 
contemplation  ;  but  a  billion  dollars  in  an  indus- 
trial corporation  is  degrading  and  kills  all  spiri- 
tual power. 

Nothing  is  clearer  than  this  :  Every  condition 
of  material  superiority  here  which  Europe  is  com- 
pelled to  admit,  is  equally  big  with  spiritual  promise, 
inherent  promise,  promise  of  a  higher  type  than 
any  previous  civilization  can  show.  We  cannot 
fairly  be  charged  with  any  lack  of  appreciation  of 

16 


242  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

our  material  successes,  but  we  are  fairly  chargeable 
with  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  our  spiritual  power 
and  possibilities.  In  these  matters  we  are  disposed 
to  feel  humble  if  reference  is  made  to  antiquity  or 
to  Europe ;  it  is  usual  for  us  to  become  apologetic. 
This  attitude  is  not  only  demoralizing  but  unjust. 
It  is  time  we  stopped  apologizing.  To  the  gibe  con- 
tained in  the  claim  that  we  have  ' '  repelled  the 
sensitive,  the  contemplative  and  the  devout,"  we 
may  well  answer  that  if  Europe  and  our  forebears 
generally  had  done  their  work  better  we  would  have 
more  leisure  now  for  contemplation  and  devotion. 
The  amazing  thing  is,  not  that  in  certain  extreme 
instances  they  surpass  us,  but  that  they  have  in  six 
thousand  years — or  is  it  six  million  ? — done  so  little 
that  is  permanent  and  worth  while,  left  us  so  near 
the  earth,  so  bound  to  the  soil,  so  much  the  prey  of 
disease  and  war  and  superstition. 

Every  previous  civilization  has  flowered  too  soon. 
That  is  not  a  good  civilization  which  creates  a 
Winged  Victory  or  a  Venus  of  Melos  and  leaves  the 
people  generally  little  better  than  savages.  That 
is  not  a  good  type  of  civilization  which  produces 
wonderful  pictures  and  leaves  the  masses  without 
opportunity  or  disposition  to  understand  them. 

The  writer  whom  I  have  just  quoted,  after  point- 
ing out  the  material  we  have  in  hand  and  the  power 
it  gives  us,  wonders  what  the  final  result  will  be 
after  this  fashion  : 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  243 

"Is  that  which  created  the  religion,  the  art,  the 
speculation  of  the  Past  ;  that  insatiable  hunger  for 
Eternity  which  *  *  has  luxuriated  in  the  jungle 
of  Hindoo  myths,  blossomed  in  the  Pantheon  of  the 
Greeks,  suffered  on  the  cross,  perished  at  the  stake, 
wasted  in  the  cloister  and  the  cell,  which  has  given 
life  to  marble,  substance  to  color,  structure  to  fugi- 
tive sound,  which  has  fashioned  a  palace  of  fire  and 
cloud  to  inhabit  for  its  desire,  and  deemed  it,  for  its 
beauty,  more  dear  and  more  real  than  kingdoms  of 
iron  and  gold  ; — is  that  hunger,  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past,  to  harass  and  hunt  us  from  our  styes?" 

Here  we  have  the  conclusion  which  follows  natu- 
rally from  the  claim  that  we  are  lacking  in  spirit- 
uality. Here  is  the  suggestion  that  a  civilization 
so  gross  cannot  be  expected  to  blossom  with  relig- 
ious fervor  or  the  spirit  of  sacrifice. 

Putting  aside  the  question  of  whether  we  have 
attracted  spiritual  power,  or  have  developed  it, 
what  do  contrasted  conditions  again  show  ?  Is  a 
' '  hunger  for  Eternity ' '  unlikely  to  flourish  in  a 
vast  country  so  highly  organized  that  it  is  to  some 
of  the  countries  of  Europe  as  the  vertebrate  to  the 
mollusk?  Do  physical  decency  and  comfort  fight 
against  the  soul  ?  Is  a  hut  with  contemplation  and 
vermin  better  for  spiritual  development  than  a 
modern  home  with  bath-rooms,  sunshine  and  sound 
rules  of  hygiene  ?  Will  people  develop  a  less  ex- 
alted conception  of  the  hereafter  under  a  programme 
that  stands  every  man  on  his  own  feet,  faces  him 


244  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

with  his  own  responsibilities,  and  makes  him  do 
justice  if  he  expects  to  receive  it?  Does  the  picture 
of  a  million  men  under  arms  appeal  to  the  soul 
more  powerfully  than  the  spectacle  of  a  million 
men  at  work  ? 

Is  there  more  poetry  in  the  construction  of  a 
battleship  than  in  the  construction  of  a  great  steel 
bridge  ? 

If  art  has  flourished  in  a  society  made  up  of 
special  privilege  at  one  end  and  ignorance  and  fear 
at  the  other,  is  it  less  likely  to  flourish  in  a  society 
from  which  both  privilege  and  fear  have  been  largely 
banished?  in  which  fierce  competition  constantly 
spurs  ability  to  do  its  best  ? 

It  is  true  that  going  so  directly  to  the  root  of  the 
problem,  undertaking  changes  in  society  so  radical, 
reversing  the  whole  point  of  view,  putting  industry 
at  the  front  and  not  under  foot,  has  resulted  in 
numberless  temporary  conditions  onto  which  the 
critics  with  some  justification  pounce  for  evidence 
that  we  are  to  fail  in  our  vast  undertaking.  Some 
of  these  conditions  are  serious  ;  some  shock  and 
disturb  even  those  of  us  who  believe  in  the  com- 
plete triumph  of  our  plan.     For  example  : 

We  are  governed  by  bosses.  Our  best  men  gen- 
erally avoid  politics  and  our  worst  men  seek  it. 
Municipal  government  is  generally  an  orgy  of 
11  graft."  Lately  our  greatest  city  deliberately  re- 
jected decency  in  its  government  and  invited  the 
most  notorious  organization  in  the  world  back  to 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  245 

power.  Our  press  is  yellow  and  largely  a  pander. 
Churches  are  not  half  filled  on  Sunday.  Some  of 
our  college  graduates  can  neither  spell,  write  nor 
speak  the  English  language  correctly.  Our  child- 
ren are  frequently  ill-bred.  Our  tastes  in  music 
have  turned  the  organ  and  piano  into  mechanical 
monsters.  We  do  everything  in  a  rush.  We  do 
only  a  few  things  very  well.  All  our  standards 
relate  back  in  some  fashion  to  the  dollar.  Our 
cities  are  architectural  monstrosities.  We  have  no 
longer  a  literature  worthy  the  name.  The  theatre 
has  become  vulgar  where  it  is  not  dirty,  and  vaude- 
ville pays  better  than  Shakspere.  Lately  we  have 
been  told  that  the  man  whose  virtues  I  am  extol- 
ling, the  business  man,  is  the  father  of  all  systems 
of  "graft." 

Just  recently,  too,  no  less  a  personage  than  Dr. 
Faunce,  of  Brown  University,  delivered  this  criti- 
cism :  "  We  are  a  people  of  quick  perception,  sen- 
sitive temperament,  swift  to  respond  to  our  environ- 
ment, and  with  peculiar  versatility  in  resource.  Yet 
we  still  ^stand  outside  the  realm  of  ripened  wisdom 
and  assured  and  stable  conviction." 

All  true  enough  and  all  false  enough,  but  the 
expression  of  a  superficial  and  an  unsympathetic 
view.  The  man  who  sees  no  deeper  than  these 
criticisms  take  us,  does  not  understand  the  age. 

That  "  insatiable  hunger  for  Eternity  "  is  here, 
but  it  also  has  changed  its  habitat.  It  dwells 
elsewhere    as    well   as  in  the  learned    professions. 


246  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Strangely  enough,  its  chief  representative  and  hope 
is  again  the  man  of  action.  He  has  not  only  organ- 
ized force,  but  in  that  organization  he  has  pre- 
served and  somewhat  developed  spirituality — at  a 
time  when  the  astigmatism  of  the  critics  makes 
spirituality  seem  to  be  waning.  The  seed  sifted 
from  all  the  world  to  be  planted  in  this  wilderness 
has  progressed  so  far  toward  spiritual  as  well  as 
material  fruition, — the  plan  of  civilization  that  will 
finally  be  worked  out  here  has  been  so  far  sketched, 
that  the  dominant  figure,  for  this  generation  at 
least,  emerges.  That  figure  is  the  man  of  affairs. 
Let  us  look  at  him  a  moment. 

He  is  the  product  as  well  as  the  master  of  the  age. 

In  him  are  the  statesmanship  and  learning,  the 
good  breeding  and  love  of  art,  the  poetic  feeling 
and  philosophy,  the  philanthropy  and  the  longing 
for  Eternity  which  the  critic  and  the  pessimist  insist 
have  departed  from  us,  or  from  the  beginning  have 
avoided  us.  The  modern  man  of  affairs  is  many- 
sided.  That  he  does  things  is  beyond  discussion  ; 
but  many  of  us  yet  fail  to  realize  all  that  he  does. 
In  him  is  the  spirit  that  drew  millions  out  of  Europe, 
and  in  him  is  the  hope  that  brought  them  hither. 
He  is  master  in  a  land  where  Industry  is  honorable  ; 
where  for  the  first  time  it  is  really  no  disgrace  to 
work  ;  where  a  man  of  leisure  is  more  apt  to  be  a 
loafer  than  a  gentleman.  What  the  instinct  of  the 
people  felt  for  a  thousand  years  he  has  crystallized 
into  definite  plans.      Better  than  any  other  type  he 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  247 

has  understood  the  unconscious  determination  of  the 
world  to  build  here  on  new  and  radical  lines. 

This  leadership  of  the  man  of  affairs  has,  amongst 
other  things,  made  him  a  statesman.  Statecraft  with 
us  has  come  to  be  made  up  largely  of  questions  of 
commerce,  in  which  business  is  naturally  dominant. 
The  old  style  Senator — pompous,  oratorical,  diffuse 
— has  nearly  disappeared.  The  Senator  or  Con- 
gressman who  shapes  legislation  is  either  a  business 
man  or  he  uses  the  businessman's  methods.  There 
is  very  little  buncombe  about  Congress  by  contrast 
with  its  earlier  qualities,  and  there  is  very  little 
ground  for  the  outcry  sometimes  made  against  the 
dominance  of  this  new  type.  The  standards  at 
Washington  have  been  lifted  to  a  new  and  higher 
level  by  the  man  of  affairs.  His  view  is  broader 
than  nationality.  He  is  wiser  than  any  Foreign 
Office.     His  fingers  are  on  the  pulse  of  the  world. 

He  is  also  a  philosopher.  In  all  our  fierce  style 
of  life  no  man  is  nearer  the  heart  of  things.  He 
not  only  sees  but  he  guides  the  forces  at  work.  He 
studies  the  problem  from  all  sides,  as  Shylock  did 
when  considering  the  loan  to  Antonio.  He  knows, 
as  Shylock  did  not,  that  "Ships  are  but  boards, 
sailors  but  men.  There  be  land  rats  and  water 
rats;  land  thieves  and  water  thieves."  His  phi- 
losophy has  taught  him  how  to  avoid  most  of  the 
hazards  which  ruined  Antonio.  He  studies  organi- 
zation, and  organization  involves  the  whole  philoso- 
phy of  human  progress. 


248  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Our  business  man  is  a  philanthropist.  He  has 
come  to  do  what  the  King  formerly  did.  He  founds 
hospitals,  endows  schools,  builds  churches,  makes 
learning  and  books  free.  He  makes  money  but  he 
knows  what  money  is  worth. 

Our  business  man  is  a  poet.  Poetry  has  found 
expression  in  various  forms :  sometimes  in  lan- 
guage ;  sometimes  in  harmony  of  sound  ;  sometimes 
in  stone  ;  sometimes  in  color  ;  but  true  poetry  is 
always  the  same  : — it  is  a  lamp  that  leads  forward, 
a  glimpse  of  new  truth,  an  appeal,  a  longing,  a 
height  that  beckons,  a  better  revelation.  There  is 
poetry  in  business,  and  our  business  man  recognizes 
that.  He  gets  the  view  of  the  prophet  and  poet 
while  attending  to  business.  He  does  not  merely 
hope  for  the  elevation  of  the  race  ;  he  does  not  sim- 
ply pray  for  it ;  but  he  does,  with  his  own  hands, 
that  which  fonvards  it,  and  he  studies  with  wonder 
and  awe  and  delight  the  social  and  political  forces 
working  under  his  fingers.  He  consolidates  the 
industries  of  a  continent  and  then  introduces  profit- 
sharing.  He  knows  the  poetry  as  well  as  the  ma- 
chinery that  underlie  and  uplift  the  status  of  those 
who  toil. 

Our  business  man  is  a  prophet.  He  does  not 
adopt  a  strange  dress  and  fast  and  wrander  in  the 
desert.  He  probably  has  a  yacht  and  an  automo- 
bile, but  he  is  a  prophet  none  the  less.  A  leathern 
girdle  would  not  suit  him  for  raiment ;  neither 
would  locusts  and  wild  honey  answer  for  his  diet. 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  249 

He  takes  civilization  by  the  throat  and  remakes  it 
while  you  wait ;  he  prophesies  in  one  breath  and 
fulfils  the  prophecy  in  the  next.  He  shifts  the  trade 
supremacy  of  the  nations,  not  because  the  people 
definitely  ask  it,  but  because  he  sees  in  advance 
that  the  hour  has  struck.  His  impulse  here  is 
identical  with  that  which  made  the  old  prophets  cry 
out.  His  achievement  is  kindred  to  the  victories 
which  made  the  first  king.  But  we  do  not  call 
such  a  man  either  a  king  or  a  prophet ;  we  call 
him  a  Captain  of  Industry.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
few  kings  have  made  so  deep  a  mark  on  the  history 
of  the  race  as  certain  American  business  men. 

Above  everything  else,  our  business  man  is  a 
leader  in  establishing  standards  of  commercial 
honor.  The  cleanest,  the  best  securities  in  the 
world,  are  those  that  represent  the  doings  of  the 
business  man.  The  securities  of  the  nations  are  no 
better  ;  the  pledges  of  most  counties  and  cities  are 
not  so  good. 

The  critics  think,  and  the  world  generally  thinks, 
that  our  ideals  are  low,  and  that  the  children  of  the 
spirit  have  departed  from  us  because  this  is  a  mate- 
rial age.  It  is  a  material  age,  and  we  are  proud  of 
it.  We  have  work  to  do, — great  work  to  do ;  we 
rejoice  in  that  condition.  But  we  see  beyond  that. 
We  do  not  make  the  mistake,  while  harnessing 
Niagara,  hurling  great  trains  across  the  continent, 
and  burrowing  under  great  cities  and  rivers,  of  sup- 
posing that  these  achievements  are  of  themselves 


250  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

vastly  important.  These  great  projects  appeal  to 
us  because  they  have  fallen  to  us  to  do,  and  we 
know  that  if  we  failed  to  do  them  we  would  fairly 
be  condemned  by  all  coming  generations ;  but  the 
doing  of  these  things  in  the  far  reach  of  affairs  in- 
spires the  children  of  the  spirit  and  does  not  smother 
them. 

We  do  business,  and  we  dream,  too. 

We  grapple  with  practical  problems  and  philoso- 
phize at  the  same  time. 

We  get  a  glimpse  of  Revelation  while  struggling 
with  the  problems  of  Genesis. 

There  is  philosophy  in  a  limited  train. 

There  is  beauty  in  an  ocean  greyhound. 

There  is  a  perpetual  miracle  in  the  long  distance 
telephone. 

There  is  philanthropy  as  well  as  power  in  a  billion- 
dollar  corporation. 

The  man  who  is  big  enough  to  handle  a  great 
modern  enterprise  is  broad  enough  to  be  a  states- 
man, sound  enough  to  be  a  philosopher,  dreamer 
enough  to  be  a  poet,  generous  enough  to  be  a  phil- 
anthropist. Almost  without  exception  our  great 
business  men  are  men  of  imagination.  Indeed,  it 
is  certain  that  the  representatives  of  none  of  the  so- 
called  learned  professions,  at  the  time  when  they 
were  in  their  heyday,  ever  needed  for  success  the 
breadth  of  view,  the  charity,  the  humanity,  the 
philosophy  and  the  ability  now  necessary  for  great 
^usiness  success. 


CENTENNIAL   ORATION  251 

I  have  said  that  the  world  sent  its  choice  grain 
here  to  plant  a  new  civilization  based  on  a  readjust- 
ment of  things, — based  on  cooperation,  on  produc- 
tion as  distinguished  from  destruction  ;  based  on 
conditions  that  would  make  life  worth  while,  not 
only  for  the  privileged  few,  but  for  all  who  had 
energy  enough  to  deserve  it. 

This  can  now  be  restated  by  saying  that  our  civi- 
lization is  based  on  a  new  conception  of  the  value  of 
human  life.  Strangely  enough,  human  life  has 
always  been  cheaply  held.  It  has  been  scattered  as 
a  spendthrift  scatters  money,  in  support  of  political 
ambition,  religious  dogma,  and  for  gain.  The 
greater  part  of  what  we  call  history  is  merely  a 
recital  of  how  thousands  were  slaughtered  because 
of  some  difference  of  opinion  over  geographical 
boundaries,  or  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
hereafter. 

Our  civilization  sounds  a  note  which  reverses  all 
this  and,  for  the  first  time,  aims  to  put  things  in 
their  proper  relation.  It  insists  that  the  precious 
thing — the  thing  to  be  conserved  and  elevated  and 
saved,  is  human  life.  In  developing  this  truth  we 
have  only  made  a  beginning,  yet  that  beginning, 
translated  into  facts  and  figures,  is  startling  in  its 
proportions  and  staggering  in  its  suggestions. 

The  plain,  quiet  citizen  has  had  a  chance  and  has 
been  doing  things.  He  has  been  working  his  way 
upward  from  the  condition  of  that  earlier  time  when 
industry  was  not  regarded  as  entirely  honorable  ; 


252  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

was,  indeed,  in  chains.  He  has  had  a  part  in  this 
new  conquest  of  the  forces  of  nature  ;  he  has  been 
very  busy  making  his  place  in  this  new  style  of 
civilization.  He  is  today  what  may  be  called  the 
truly  rich  man. 

Let  me  state  one  fact  without  going  into  statis- 
tics, a  fact  that  is  not  singular,  that  gives  only  one 
view  out  of  many,  of  the  unprecedented  achieve- 
ments of  the  toiler,  the  unknown,  the  unnoticed, 
the  unadvertised.  On  January  1,  1904,  the  aggre- 
gate of  savings  banks  deposits  in  this  country  added 
to  the  total  obligations  which  the  ordinary  citizen 
had  then,  under  a  great  system  of  cooperation,  un- 
dertaken to  pay,  amounted  to  $21,500,000,000.  (I 
do  not  name  this  particular  phase  of  cooperation 
from  fear  that  you  may  think  I  am  talking  ' '  shop. ' ' ) 
This  is  almost  two-thirds  the  public  debt  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  world.  Before  this  total  all  the  pri- 
vate fortunes  of  which  we  know,  and  of  which  we 
hear  much,  shrivel  into  inconsequence.  The  pres- 
ent market  value  of  all  the  stock  of  the  greatest 
corporation  yet  organized  is  to  this  as  one  to  one 
hundred.  The  dream  of  a  new  civilization,  where 
things  should  be  readjusted,  where  life  would  be 
worth  while  for  all  and  not  for  a  privileged  few, 
begins  in  this  fashion  to  take  material  form. 

What  these  figures  will  reach  during  the  lifetime 
of  most  of  us  is  uncertain,  but  they  promise  to  be- 
come the  greatest  of  all  conservative  powers, — not 
in  the  interest  of  dynasties  or  families,  but  in  the 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  253 

interest  of  that  unit  on  which  any  permanent  civili- 
zation must  rest — the  man  in  the  street. 

In  the  working  out  of  this  great  purpose,  devo- 
tion, spirituality,  sacrifice,  the  things  of  the  spirit 
may  not  be  in  evidence,  or  may  not  give  the  evidences 
that  are  usually  recognized  ;  but  sacrifice  of  the 
very  highest  type  is  there  ;  honor  surpassing  the 
standards  of  the  days  of  chivalry  is  also  there.  And 
the  master  of  all  is  the  man  of  business.  His  con- 
trol is  sane  and  sound  and  philosophical.  He  uses 
the  professions,  old  and  new,  to  forward  the  cause 
he  labors  in,  but  he  commands.  His  is  the  great 
career.  He  especially  beckons  the  scholar, — not 
the  scholar  whose  ' '  native  resolution  is  sicklied 
o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought,"  but  the  scholar 
who  is  also  a  man  of  action. 

I  commit  no  heresy  when  I  say  that  in  this 
titanic  struggle  the  scholar  thus  far  has  not  borne 
his  proper  part.  He  has  been  too  much  worried 
over  the  danger  that  might  come  to  the  children  of 
the  spirit ;  he  has  been  too  much  horrified  over  the 
dirt  of  politics, — too  much  disturbed  by  the  appar- 
ent dominance  of  the  dollar.  But,  clinging  to  the 
professions,  the  scholar  cannot  escape  business  if  he 
would.  The  old-fashioned  lawyer,  like  the  old  type 
of  statesman,  is  about  as  near  a  tradition  as  the 
Shepherd  Kings  of  Egypt.  The  lawyer  of  conse- 
quence today, — who  wields  real  power,  who  brings 
things  to  pass,  who  succeeds, — almost  never  appears 
in   court.     He  depends  on  his  knowledge   of  law 


254  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

and  of  business,  not  on  his  eloquence.  His  duty  is 
to  keep  his  clients  out  of  trouble,  not  to  get  them 
out  of  trouble.  He  is  probably  either  in  the  service 
of  a  group  of  corporations  or  devoted  to  work  that 
keeps  him  constantly  in  that  atmosphere.  In  some 
fashion  this  same  change  has  come  to  the  Doctor  of 
Medicine  and  to  the  Doctor  of  Divinity.  There  has 
been  indeed  a  readjustment  of  things. 

The  men  who  have  led  in  the  industrial  and  busi- 
ness developments  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  are 
men  not  unlike  the  contemporaries  of  Ira  Allen  and 
Thomas  Chittenden.  They  are  pioneers.  With 
prophetic  eyes  they  saw  the  opportunity.  They 
went  out  ahead  of  the  established  order  because  they 
discovered  an  empire  lying  just  beyond.  They  fre- 
quently found  themselves  on  the  borderland  of  law 
and,  in  some  cases,  actually  pushing  organization 
to  points  where  no  statute  applied.  Of  course  this 
was  dangerous. 

The  dangers  of  the  frontier  are  always  real, 
whether  they  assume  the  form  of  savages  and  wild 
beasts,  or  of  legislators  and  blackmailers.  But  the 
men  who  lead  in  such  enterprises  have  the  poet's 
soul  and  the  warrior's  heart. 

Unwittingly  no  finer  tribute  has  been  paid  to  this 
type  than  that  offered  by  the  chief  law  officer  of  the 
United  States  recently,  when  attacking  in  court  the 
great  plan  which  a  certain  famous  organization  had 
worked  out  for  the  development  of  our  mighty 
Northwest,  and  to  control  the  trade  of  the  Orient. 


CENTENNIAL  ORATION  255 

He  referred  sneeringly  to  certain  master  spirits  as 
"  Oriental  Dreamers — Empire  Builders."  And  so 
they  are.  The  great  business  man  is  always  a 
dreamer ;  he  must  be.  He  is  an  empire  builder 
also, — the  chief  empire  builder  of  this  day. 

Like  Columbus  he  stands  on  the  shore  of  tossing 
seas  which  divide  him  from  his  desire.  He  sets  sail, 
in  craft  frequently  as  frail  as  those  which  carried  the 
great  Genoese.  He  is  tossed  and  storm-swept ;  his 
crews  mutiny  and  sometimes  take  possession  and 
turn  pirates.  But  now  and  then  a  voyage  prospers, 
and  he  discovers,  not  the  land  of  his  dreams,  but  a 
new  world.  Whether  that  new  world  is  Production, 
or  Transportation,  or  Cooperation,  or  Steel  and 
Iron,  or  Electricity,  or  Commercial  Honor,  the  mas- 
ter who  finds  it  and  rules  it  must  be  as  much  a  Poet 
as  a  Man  of  Action,  as  much  a  Dreamer  as  a  Doer, 
as  much  a  Child  of  the  Spirit  as  a  Man  of  the 
World.  Such  is  our  business  man  and  such  are  his 
qualities  and  his  potentialities. 

When  the  civilization  which  he  has  outlined  and 
fashioned,  will  flower,  when  the  superstructure 
which  is  rising  on  this  new  foundation  will  reach 
the  fulness  of  its  majestic  plan,  I  do  not  predict ; 
but  that  its  imagination  and  philosophy,  its  courage 
and  spirit  of  prophecy,  its  love  of  justice  and  good 
order,  its  hatred  of  war  and  waste,  its  fierce  energy 
and  ambition,  will  ultimately  triumph  in  letters  and 
learning,  in  true  religion  and  in  art,  as  completely 


256  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

as  it  will  itself  triumph  in  science,  in  trade,  and  in 
the  councils  of  the  nations,  is  certain. 

The  immediate  opportunity  of  the  college-bred 
man  is  in  hastening  the  day  when  letters  and  phi- 
losophy, true  religion  and  art  shall  take  places 
where  they  will  as  far  surpass  their  earlier  achieve- 
ments as  this  civilization  surpasses  in  its  standards 
any  other  now  existing  or  that  has  passed  away. 

But  the  short  road  to  this  opportunity,  during 
the  opening  years,  at  least,  of  the  oncoming  cen- 
tury, does  not  lead  through  the  study  or  the 
cloister ;  it  leads  through  the  market  place,  under 
the  smoke  of  the  blast  furnace,  through  the  bank- 
ing house,  into  the  almost  immeasurable  energies 
of  corporate  and  cooperative  enterprise. 

The  college-bred  man  who  would  be  a  real  part 
of  the  forces  that  control  must  follow  this  road. 
He  must  keep  his  ideals,  but  the  best  way  to  keep 
them  is  to  get  into  the  fight  and  impress  them  on 
the  world  by  doing  a  master's  part.  That  part 
demands  the  clear  head,  the  strong  hand,  the 
steady  nerves,  the  courage,  the  unselfishness,  the 
integrity  and  the  idealism  that  distinguish  the 
story  and  the  men  of  the  first  century  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont. 


OUR  GUESTS 


17 


SPEECHES  AT  THE  LUNCHEON 


The  collation  over  and  the  guests  seated,  Presi- 
dent Buckhain  introduced  the  postprandial  speak- 
ing by  saying  : 

Yesterday,  at  the  Alumni  Breakfast,  the  speak- 
ers addressed  their  audience  as  ' '  brothers  and 
sisters."  Today,  speaking  for  Alma  Mater,  I 
welcome  you  as  "  sons  and  daughters."  Our 
Mother  today  looks  with  maternal  pride  upon  her 
goodly  family,  the  present  and  the  absent,  the 
living  and  the  dead,  all  living  and  all  present  in 
her  memory  and  affection.  What  was  finely  said 
of  Abraham  may  be  said  of  her  :  she  is  ennobled  by 
her  posterity.  As  you  have  noticed,  all  the  speak- 
ers, thus  far,  on  this  centennial  occasion  have  been 
graduates  of  our  own  University.  In  departing 
from  the  usual  custom  of  such  occasions,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements  consented  to  indulge  our 
pride  by  letting  us  show  to  the  world  that,  without 
going  outside  of  our  own  number,  we  could  present 
a  series  of  exercises  which  need  not  fear  compari- 
son with  those  of  the  other  Jubilee  events  of  our 
American  colleges  within  the  last  twenty  years. 
How  well  they  have  succeeded  we  leave  to  your 
kindly  judgment.  But  let  me  add,  that  the  great- 
est embarrassment  of  the  Committee  was  in   the 


260  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

necessity  of  excluding  other  speakers  of  equal 
merit  with  those  chosen ;  among  which  number 
you  will  easily  reckon  up  a  score  or  more — 
perhaps  without  breach  of  modesty  including 
yourselves. 

The  same  embarrassment  comes  over  me  today  in 
calling  upon  those  who  are  our  guests.  I  shall 
have  to  stop  long  before  my  list  is  exhausted.  Let 
us  begin  by  recognizing  our  historic  relation  to  the 
State  of  Vermont.  We  have  today  admitted  the 
Governor  of  the  State  into  our  family  by  bestowing 
upon  him  an  honorary  degree.  But  in  accordance 
with  the  old  requirement,  he  must  defend  his 
thesis.  That  thesis  is  to  the  effect  that,  in  order 
to  be  a  Governor  of  Vermont  and  an  LL.  D. 
secimdiim  artem,  one  suffering  under  the  disability 
of  not  being  born  in  Vermont  must  move  to  Ver- 
mont, set  up  here  his  household  gods,  marry  one 
of  Vermont's  fairest  daughters,  be  elected  Governor 
not  in  the  ordinary  way  but  by  the  Legislature,  in 
the  Centennial  year  of  the  University,  and  after 
having  made  a  handsome  subscription  to  the  Cen- 
tennial Fund  of  the  University,  attend  its  Com- 
mencement, receive  its  honors,  and  before  its 
assembled  alumni  and  guests  defend  his  thesis. 
This  I  now  call  upon  Governor  John  Griffith  Mc- 
Cullough  to  do. 


GOVERNOR   McCULLOUGH'S   SPEECH  261 

SPEECH   OF   GOVERNOR   MCCULLOUGH 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

I  suppose  on  public  occasions  similar  to  the 
present  I  shall  yet  for  a  little  while  longer  be 
called  on  to  respond  to  the  sentiment  "  Vermont." 
But  in  view  of  the  action  of  the  convention  at 
Montpelier  a  few  days  ago  in  naming  as  my  suc- 
cessor, Mr.  Bell,  of  Walden,  why  not  call  on  him? 
He  is  the  rising  sun.  His  rays  are  already  gilding 
the  September  hilltops.  Why  worship  a  dying  king 
while  a  living  one  is  with  you?  Why  not  para- 
phrase the  old  song, 

"The  Bells  of  Shandon, 
The  Bells  of  Shandon, 
They  sound  so  grand  on," 

so  as  to  read, 

The  Bell  of  Walden, 
The  Bell  of  Walden, 
He'll  respond  when  called  on? 

However,  I  must  count  myself  fortunate  in  being 
permitted  on  this  Centennial  occasion  to  respond  at 
all.  And  first,  I  congratulate  the  Trustees,  the 
President,  the  Faculty,  the  under-graduates,  the 
over-graduates,  the  post-graduates,  and  the  ante- 
graduates,  and  all  who  have  ministered  to  the  great 
success  of  your  Centennial  Commencement  exer- 
cises. 

Once  more  I  am  asked  to  speak  for  Vermont. 

Vermont  speaks  for  herself.  She  speaks  through 
her  University.     She  is  speaking  through  its  Com- 


262  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

mencement  today.  She  will  speak  in  the  years  to 
come  through  every  member  of  this  graduating 
class.  Vermont  will  speak  through  every  son  that 
goes  to  the  West,  rising  to  a  commanding  position 
as  college  president,  or  eminent  jurist,  or  captain 
of  industry,  or  publicist  or  statesman  returning  to 
the  halls  of  Congress.  Vermont  needs  no  enco- 
mium at  the  hands  of  her  Governor.  Her  history 
is  known  by  heart.  All  I  can  do  is  to  impress  upon 
the  minds  of  the  young  gentlemen  and  ladies  of 
this  graduating  class,  wherever  they  may  go,  what- 
ever calling  they  may  select,  to  remember  to  be 
Verm  outers. 

I  am  sure  that  if  you  journey  to  the  plains  of  the 
West  you  will  never  forget  the  physical  beauties  of 
the  old  Commonwealth.  Your  affections  will  ever 
cling  to  her  mountains, — Anthony  and  Equinox, 
Ascutney  and  Jay's  Peak,  Killington  and  Shrews- 
bury, Camel's  Hump  and  Mansfield.  And  so,  too, 
her  lakes,  Champlain  and  Memphremagog,  and  the 
hundred  other  little  liquid  sapphires  and  emeralds 
set  in  the  coronet  of  her  hills,  will  forever  be  en- 
graven on  your  minds.  The  verdure  of  her  valleys, 
reaching  to  the  utmost  peak,  will  ever  remain  green 
in  your  memory. 

But  I  would  have  you  carry  with  you  also  the 
intellectual  and  moral  excellence  of  her  citizenship. 
Let  it  ever  be  reflected  in  yourselves.  In  other 
words,  be  Vermonters.  Her  history  you  know  by 
heart  :    that    she    was    born    in    adversity,    reared 


GOVERNOR   McCULLOUGH'S    SPEECH  263 

amid  storms ;  that  in  Colonial  times  her  stalwart 
and  sturdy  people  stood  foursquare  to  every  blast 
that  blew  through  her  mountain  fastnesses,  and  to 
every  adversary  that  hung  threateningly  on  her 
every  border  ;  that  for  fourteen  years  she  main- 
tained, solitary  and  alone,  an  independent  Republic 
against  all  comers ;  that  in  the  Revolutionary 
period  her  leaders  and  their  followers  struck  heroic 
and  memorable  blows  for  the  Great  Cause.  Free- 
dom's battle  being  won,  your  State  fought  for  four- 
teen years  to  get  into  the  Federal  Union,  and  later, 
with  her  loyal  sisters,  fought  four  years  more  to 
keep  anybody  else  from  getting  out.  Remember 
that  her  gristle  and  political  fiber  were  so  toughened 
that  more  than  once  during  the  war  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Union,  the  order  was  issued  in  fact  or 
in  spirit :  ' '  Put  the  Vermonters  in  front  and  keep 
the  ranks  well  closed  up." 

Remember  to  be  Vermonters.  Vermont  is  the 
breeder  of  men.  It  still  breeds  Ethan  Aliens  and 
Seth  Warners.  During  the  Spanish  War,  a  State 
without  a  sea-port,  without  even  a  navigable  river 
within  her  borders,  presented  to  the  Nation  two 
naval  commanders, — the  Admiral  of  the  Navy,  the 
hero  of  Manila  Bay,  and  the  Rear  Admiral,  the 
hero  of  the  Oregon. 

Remember  to  be  Vermonters.  Mere  bigness  and 
aggregation  of  numbers  count  for  little.  Because 
they  were  small,  would  you  blot  out  Athens  and 
Sparta  from  the  map  of  Greece?     Would  you  blot 


264  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

out  Switzerland  and  Holland  from  the  map  of 
Europe  ?  In  the  art  of  War  what  larger  State  has 
produced  the  superiors  of  Stannard  or  Smith  or 
Dewey  or  Clarke, — in  the  field  of  Scholarship  a 
superior  to  Marsh, — in  Diplomacy  to  Phelps, — in 
Statesmanship  to  Thaddeus  Stevens  or  Collamer  or 
Morrill  or  Edmunds  ? 

Remember  to  be  Vermonters.  Cling  to  the  old 
ideals  ;  cling  to  her  Town  System;  cling  to  her  tra- 
ditions, her  associations,  her  memories,  her  affec- 
tions, her  homely  virtues.     Stand  for  the  old  ideals  ! 

And,  young  gentlemen  and  ladies,  today  you  go 
forth  from  her  chief  seat  of  learning,  carrying  her 
blessing.  With  your  degree  you  step  out  into  the 
world — you  step  out  in  the  opening  days  and  years 
of  the  Twentieth  Century.  In  all  this  world's 
history  there  have  never  been  greater  opportunities 
than  are  today  presented  to  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  men.  Your  future  is  in  your  own  hands.  There 
is  no  royal  road  to  fame  or  success.  It  is  not 
merely  genius  or  special  ability, — it  is  close  and 
constant  and  methodical  application  that  wins  the 
goal.  The  field  lies  open  before  you  all  in  this 
country.  And  what  a  field  !  Whether  we  survey 
the  industrial,  the  commercial,  the  professional, 
the  political,  the  literary,  the  scientific, — into 
whatever  field  of  human  endeavor  or  human 
knowledge  we  may  roam,  there  literally  seem  to 
be  no  bounds  and  no  limits  in  these  our  days.  Let 
me  assure  you,  young  gentlemen  and  young  ladies, 


GOVERNOR   McCULLOUGH'S    SPEECH  265 

that  there  is  a  place  for  each  of  you.  Let  me 
assure  you,  too,  that  there  is  always  room  at  the 
top.  The  upper  rounds  of  the  ladder  are  never  so 
crowded  as  the  lower. 

And  now,  as  a  last  word,  may  I  express  my 
fervent  wish,  that  for  your  own  sake,  for  the  sake 
of  your  University  and  your  State,  each  of  you,  in 
the  several  spheres  of  usefulness  you  may  enter, 
may  reach  some  of  the  upper  rounds.  But 
remember  always  to  be  Vermonters,  everywhere 
and  at  all  times,  into  whatever  sphere  your  lot  is 
cast.  As  England,  on  the  day  of  Trafalgar, 
expected  every  man  to  do  his  duty,  Vermont,  in  all 
the  days  of  the  year,  expects  all  her  sons  and 
daughters  to  do  their  duty.  I  predict  a  future  for 
this  Centennial  class  that  will  reflect  credit  upon 
yourselves,  upon  your  University,  upon  your  State. 

The  President:  This  University  has  always 
been  undenominational — was  in  fact  one  of  the 
first  institutions  of  learning  in  the  United  States  to 
proclaim  this  position  in  its  charter.  Its  founders 
were  broad-minded  men.  What  we  have  done 
today  in  honoring  a  prelate  of  the  old  Roman 
Church,  a  Bishop  of  the  Anglo-American  Church, 
and  several  presbyters  of  other  Communions, 
would,  I  am  sure,  have  had  their  approval,  had 
they  been  here  today.  These  honored  Alumni, 
also,  on  some  future  occasion  will  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  defend  their  theses. 


266  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

If  one  were  asked  to  name  the  highest  and  most 
enviable  position  within  the  compass  of  American 
public  life,  the  choice  would  lie  between  a  chair  in 
the  United  States  Senate  and  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  As  we  have  men  distinguished  in 
both  offices  here  among  our  guests,  we  will  not 
decide  between  them.  But  we  will  agree  that  to 
hold  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  carry  oneself  so  as  to 
adorn  that  office,  and  to  call  forth  the  encomium, 
that  the  institution  which  bestows  its  honors  upon 
him,  honors  itself  by  doing  so, — that  this  leaves 
little  unattained  in  the  way  of  public  honor.  I 
present  to  you  again,  Justice  David  Josiah  Brewer, 
of  the  Supreme  Court. 

SPEECH   OF  JUSTICE  BREWER 

Father  Buckham,  Brothers  and  Sisters  of  the 
Alumni  of  the  University  of  Vermont, — for  so  I 
suppose  I  can  from  this  time  call  you, — it  is  with 
fear  and  trembling  that  I  stand  here.  Only  last 
fall  I  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Fish  and  Game 
League  of  this  State  and  in  a  short  speech  urged  on 
the  members  the  importance  of  the  duty  to  obey 
the  fish  and  game  laws.  The  next  day  I  started 
for  Washington,  and  hardly  had  I  reached  that  city 
when  I  saw  in  the  papers  that  the  most  dis- 
tinguished one  of  my  audience  had  been  fined  for 
violating  the  game  laws.  I  wondered  if  that  was 
the  influence  my  words  had    upon    the    people    of 


JUSTICE   BREWER'S   SPEECH  267 

Vermont  ;  and  now  I  am  anxious  to  know  which 
one  of  you  will  be  the  first  to  violate  some  law  of 
the  State.  I  hope  that  whoever  he  or  she  may  be, 
the  Governor  will  for  my  sake  be  lenient  in  the 
matter  of  pardon. 

First  let  me  congratulate  you,  as  the  Governor 
has  so  eloquently  done,  on  the  success  of  the 
efforts  of  your  President,  your  city,  and  indeed  of 
all,  to  make  this  a  grand  occasion,  a  fit  centennial 
of  a  noble  institution.  It  is  something  to  have 
lived  and  worked  one  hundred  years,  but  it  is 
grander  to  have  accomplished  during  that  hundred 
years  all  that  this  University  has  accomplished  in 
fitting  brainy  men  and  women  for  their  life's  work. 

I  am  present,  though  unofficially,  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  old  Yale,  who  only  two  years  ago  cele- 
brated her  bicentennial,  and  for  her,  tender  the 
glad  hand  to  her  younger  sister  on  this  her  one- 
hundredth  birthday.  We  of  Yale  think  that  we 
have  a  particular  interest  in  this  University.  If  I 
have  read  history  rightly,  Vermont  was  largely 
peopled  by  Connecticut  men  and  women,  and  they 
brought  with  them  the  teachings  and  inspirations 
of  Yale.  True,  you  have  labored  under  one  disad- 
vantage. You  have  not  grown  up  beneath  the 
shadow  of  that  city,  Boston,  where  dwell,  as  the 
Bostonians  themselves  admit,  the  most  cultured 
and  learned  people  on  the  continent. 

You  have  doubtless  heard  of  the  Boston  mer- 
chant who,  having  for  the  first  time  read  Shakes- 


268  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

peare,  said  he  did  not  believe  there  were  more  than 
a  dozen  men  in  the  city  of  Boston  who  conld  write 
so  fine  a  book. 

But  if  you  have  not  had  the  benefit  of  this  great 
culture,  you  have  taken  lineage  from  a  University 
which  boasts  that  she  has  trained  the  plain  people 
of  this  country,  the  plain  people  whom  Abraham 
Lincoln  loved,  in  whom  he  believed,  and  who  in 
every  time  of  national  trial  and  struggle  have  stood 
with  irresistible  strength  for  peace,  liberty  and 
righteousness. 

The  charter  of  Yale  declared  the  purpose  of  her 
incorporation  to  be  the  training  of  the  young  for 
public  employment  in  church  and  civil  state.  That 
has  been  the  purpose  of  all  collegiate  institutions 
which  trace  their  ancestry  back  to  Yale,  and  Ver- 
mont University  among  others  has  delighted  to 
train  her  sons  and  daughters  for  such  services.  I 
am  thankful  that  this  has  been  so  in  the  past  and  is 
so  today.  There  was  never  more  need  of  educated 
men  in  the  service  of  church  and  state  than  today. 
With  all  due  respect  for  those  who  speak  of  the 
practical  men,  the  men  of  business  and  affairs,  it  is 
still  true  that  the  educated  men  and  women  are  the 
makers  and  masters  of  the  destiny  of  this  republic. 

Pardon  a  second  thought.  This  is  a  day  when 
there  is  clamor  for  new  things,  a  day  of  great 
achievements  in  material  directions,  when  we  talk 
glibly  of  tunnels,  railroads,  cables,  sky-scrapers, 
telephones,  and  the  many  things  which  the  Ameri- 


JUSTICE   BREWER'S   SPEECH  269 

can  people  are  doing,  and  of  which  they  are  and 
have  a  right  to  be  prond.  I  rejoice  in  all  this  ;  I 
believe  in  it ;  but  I  believe  that  that  which  means 
more  for  the  future  greatness  and  glory  of  this 
republic  is  to  be  found  in  the  lives  of  such  young 
men  and  women  as  I  saw  graduate  today,  coining 
most  of  them  not  from  cities  and  homes  of  wealth, 
but  from  farms  and  country  homes,  with  little 
inheritance  save  health,  integrity  of  character,  and 
a  purpose  to  do  their  part  bravely  in  the  struggle  of 
life.  Far  more  depends  on  the  student  learned  in 
that  lore  of  the  past  which  will  prevent  him  from 
being  spirited  away  by  the  clamor  of  the  present 
than  on  any  piling-up  of  dollars.  We  are  today 
facing  the  spirit  of  despotism,  that  spirit  odious  to 
every  man  who  believes  in  individual  liberty.  I 
do  not  mean  the  despotism  of  a  monarch,  but  the 
despotism  of  accumulated  wealth,  of  combined  cap- 
ital on  the  one  side,  and  of  organized  labor  on  the 
other.  Make  light  of  it  as  you  may,  the  fact  is 
that  the  battle  is  now  on  between  those  two  organ- 
ized forces,  not  with  cannon  and  musketry,  but 
alas  !  too  often  with  the  dynamite  bomb,  assassina- 
tion and  gross  brutality. 

The  man  of  affairs  sees  money  in  joining  one 
party  ;  and  the  politician,  place  and  position  by 
shouting  with  the  other.  At  such  a  time  all  lovers 
of  liberty  must  unite  to  control  both  parties  and 
prevent  the  despotism  which  attends  the  unchecked 
action  of  each.     Now,  as  in  all  years,  the  student 


270  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

is  a  lover  of  liberty.  To  him  we  look  for  leadership 
in  every  struggle  to  maintain  human  rights. 

It  does  me  good  to  come  every  year  to  Vermont, 
a  State  so  glorious  in  its  history,  so  faithful  to  the 
cause  of  freedom.  As  you  hear  the  voice  of  Ver- 
mont crying  aloud  today  for  individual  liberty,  you 
can  almost  fancy  that  you  can  hear  grand  old  Ethan 
Allen  thundering  from  the  gates  of  Ticonderoga, 
the  defiance  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  to  King 
George,  "  in  the  name  of  the  Continental  Congress 
and  the  great  Jehovah."  Thank  God  !  the  spirit  of 
1776  is  still  here,  that  spirit  which  is  both  the  glory 
and  the  prophecy  of  the  republic. 

Vermont  has  never  lost  her  head  in  this  glamour 
of  new  things,  never  been  deluded  by  the  thousand 
and  one  plans  for  rapidly  accumulating  wealth,  the 
"get  rich  quick"  schemes,  this  making  money  by 
signing  your  name  to  paper.  She  has  never  be- 
lieved in  the  idea  that  one  can  make  something  out 
of  nothing.  It  is  honest  hard  work  on  these  hills 
that  has  covered  them  with  farms.  They  are  silent 
witnesses  to  the  toils  and  struggles  of  her  sons  and 
daughters,  and  they  also  bring  assurance  of  that 
undying  love  of  liberty  which  dwells  amidst  the 
Green  Mountains,  and  in  which  lies  the  hope  of  the 
republic. 

When  I  come  here  in  the  summer  for  rest,  the 
warm  blood  rushes  through  my  veins  with  a  new 
enthusiasm.  As  I  meet  the  cultured  sons  and 
daughters  of  Vermont,  I  feel  something  of  the  spirit 


JUSTICE  BREWER'S   SPEECH  271 

which  fills  the  air,  the  spirit  which  flashes  like  the 
sunlight  on  your  beautiful  lake,  which  passes  like 
lightning  from  peak  to  peak,  and  which  can  and 
which  will  in  any  time  of  need  thunder  like  a 
mountain  storm  against  every  scheme  to  take  from 
the  individual  any  of  his  inalienable  right  to  *  'life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  " 

To  the  young  man  and  the  young  woman  gradu- 
ate today,  may  I  say  a  word?  I  wish  I  were  in 
your  place.  You  stand  in  the  opening  days  of  a 
century  which  is  to  be  filled  with  great  events. 
Lord  Kelvin,  the  world's  greatest  scientist,  said  to 
an  uncle  of  mine  six  or  eight  years  ago,  that  ' '  mar- 
velous as  have  been  the  inventions  and  discoveries 
of  the  last  fifty  years,  we  are  trembling  on  the  verge 
of  inventions  and  discoveries  which  will  surpass 
those  as  much  as  they  surpass  all  before."  Since 
then,  we  have  wireless  telegraphy  ;  and  who  knows 
what  will  come  next? 

To  you  is  given  the  royal  privilege  of  living  in 
this  day  of  toil  and  great  achievements,  to  do  grand 
things  for  your  country  and  humanity.  May  you 
be  found  worthy  of  this  privilege. 

Well  hath  the  poet  said  : 

"Be  strong,  my  friends,  and  let  who  will  be  clever; 
Do  noble  things,  not  dream  them  all  day  long; 
And  so  make  life,  death,  and  that  vast  forever 
One  grand  sweet  song." 

In  closing  let  me  say,  and  I  echo  but  the  senti- 
ments of  every  one  present  when  I  say,  reverently, 


272  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

hopefully,  and  believingly,  ' '  God  save  the  grand 
old  commonwealth  of  Vermont,  and  strengthen  and 
upbuild  her  great  University." 

The  President  :  I  noticed  an  article  in  the 
last  number  of  the  "World's  Work"  which  opened 
with  this  quotation:  "Those  who  can,  do;  those 
who  cannot,  teach  ;"  and  I  could  not  help  thinking 
that  a  very  simple  refutation  of  that  saying  is 
found  in  the  names  of  the  two  oldest  Presidents  of 
our  American  Colleges,  Presidents  Eliot  and 
Angell.  I  spoke  a  moment  ago  of  the  highest  posi- 
tions in  the  world.  What  can  be  a  higher  success, 
or  a  finer  triumph,  than  to  have  done  a  good 
work  in  one  community,  then  to  go  away  with  the 
love  and  regret  of  the  community  to  a  larger  world, 
to  win  the  admiration  of  that  larger  community, 
and  after  more  than  thirty  years  to  come  back 
where  one  began,  and  be  received  with  the  old 
love  unbroken — can  we  think  of  anything  finer 
than  that?  I  am  sure  that  this  must  be  in  the  heart 
and  mind,  today,  of  President  Angell. 

SPEECH   OF    PRESIDENT   ANGELL 

I  do  not  know  as  I  dare  trust  myself  to 
speak  on  that  subject.  During  the  five  years  of 
my  residence  in  Vermont,  I  formed  many  of  the 
dearest  friendships  of  my  life  and  some  of  the  most 
enduring.  I  have  sometimes  felt  that  I  gave  a  poor 
requital  to  Vermont  by  the  fact  of  inflicting  myself 


PRESIDENT    ANGELL'S    SPEECH  273 

with  speech  making  upon  the  very  patient  and 
long  suffering  citizens  of  this  state.  We  were 
trying  to  reorganize  the  University  of  Vermont, 
and  especially  to  organize  the  agricultural  depart- 
ment of  which  we  see  such  a  splendid  fruitage 
today,  and  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  it  was 
thought  advisable  that  I  should  visit  all  the  state 
and  county  fairs  and  compete  with  the  two-headed 
calves  and  other  curiosities  in  attracting  public 
attention.  That  is  the  only  excuse  I  had  for  test- 
ing the  patience  of  the  people  of  this  state  so  long 
and  often  as  I  did. 

It  is  thirty-eight  years  ago  last  Monday,  the  day 
before  yesterday,  that  I  first  set  foot  upon  the  soil 
of  Vermont  and  of  this  city.  I  came  here  in  answer 
to  a  request  to  consider  the  expediency  of  accepting 
the  presidency  of  the  University  of  Vermont.  I 
suppose  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  convey  an 
idea  of  how  prostrate  this  institution  was  at  that 
time.  The  fence  about  the  campus  was  in  a  very 
dilapidated  state  ;  the  campus  was  allowed  to  run 
to  hay.  I  suppose  the  idea  was  to  show  that  we 
had  an  agricultural  department.  There  were  five 
poorly  paid  professors,  very  meritorious  professors, 
and  among  them  was  that  great  scholar  Dr.  Torrey, 
who  was  receiving  a  compensation  less  than  the 
men  then  laying  bricks  in  the  construction  of  the 
Central  Vermont  Railway  station.  These  profes- 
sors had  been  obliged  to  send  the  butcher's  wagon 

18 


274  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

away  from  their  doors.  There  seemed  to  be,  so  far 
as  I  could  observe,  a  lack  of  faith  in  this  commu- 
nity and  in  the  state  in  the  possibility  of  resusci- 
tating the  University,  which  the  war  had  absolutely 
prostrated  because  its  sons  had  gone  to  represent  us 
on  the  battle-fields  of  the  south,  many  never  to 
return  again,  and  the  funds  had  disappeared.  In 
fact  the  case  looked  hopeless.  I  was  told  by  an 
alumnus  of  this  institution,  as  illustrative  of  the 
case,  a  story  current  in  this  state  of  a  certain  town 
which  I  dare  not  mention  as  the  state  prison  is  in  it. 
Somebody  said  once  that  the  town  was  looking  up. 
Another  man  said,  "How's  that?  I  thought  it 
was  dead. "  "  That's  just  it, ' '  said  the  first  speaker, 
"it  is  so  flat  on  its  back  it  cannot  look  any  other 
way."  Now  I  mention  that  partly  to  pay  my 
tribute  to  the  brave  men,  and  your  President  was 
one  of  them,  that  never  deserted  the  institution  in 
all  those  dark  days,  and  partly  because  so  great 
progress  has  now  been  made,  I  take  hope  for  the 
future.  There  wrere  three  things  in  what  was  said 
to  me  that  inspired  hope  for  the  future  :  first,  we 
had  received  the  land  for  the  agricultural  college 
which  was  secured  by  Senator  Morrill ;  the  second 
was,  from  all  I  could  learn  of  the  history  of  the 
University,  it  had  not  lost  the  high  traditions  of 
scholarship  that  hung  fixed  as  the  northern  lights 
in  the  sky  over  the  University  of  Vermont ;  how- 
ever poor  and  needy  it  might  be,  it  had  never 
abandoned  those  noble  traditions ;    the  third  was, 


PRESIDENT    ANGELL'S    SPEECH  275 

and  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  say  so,  one  man 
then  living  across  the  campus  had  such  an  un- 
quenchable faith  in  the  life  and  progress  of  that 
University,  that  lit  was  absolutely  contagious,  and 
that  was  Professor  Benedict.  In  my  judgment,  if 
the  University  is  living  and  thriving  today,  it  is 
due  more  to  his  enthusiasm  than  to  anything  I 
know  of.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  his  spirit  has  been 
hereditary,  because  when  I  went  to  work  among 
the  alumni  of  this  institution,  all  the  way  from  here 
to  New  York  and  Boston,  one  man  was  ready  to  go 
with  me  and  one  most  helpful,  who  never  despaired 
any  more  than  his  father  of  the  future  of  the  Uni- 
versity. He  has  been  justly  honored  today  with  an 
honorary  degree,  George  Grenville  Benedict. 

Now  when  I  come  back  after  a  thirty-three  years 
absence, — for  this  is  the  first  Commencement  I  have 
been  able  to  attend,  since  the  Commencements  here 
fall  about  the  same  time  as  at  Michigan, — I  find 
changes  that,  if  then  predicted,  would  have  seemed 
like  a  dream.  The  campus  is  now  neatly  mowed, 
and  fine  buildings  worthy  of  any  university  now 
adorn  those  fields.  One  of  them,  the  Billings  Li- 
brary, is  a  very  palace  of  learning  and  has  not  an 
equal  unless  it  be  the  Congressional  Library  or  the 
one  at  Wisconsin.  It  has  now  a  large  and  capable 
faculty,  with  as  many  students  in  the  graduating 
class  as  there  were  in  the  University  in  my  time.  I 
see  on  every  side  prosperity  and  enthusiasm,  within 
and  without,  and  in  addition  to  all  things  formerly 


276  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

deemed  necessary  in  college  life,  there  is  still 
another  which  we  did  not  have,  namely,  the  college 
yell  which  has  been  invented,  and  also  the  athletic 
craze  in  reasonable  proportions.  Moreover  we  wit- 
nessed last  evening  a  dramatic  annex,  accompanied 
with  a  Terpsichorean  performance  of  such  excel- 
lence that  I  informed  the  President  I  did  not  believe 
the  faculty  could  possibly  equal  it.  What  is  there 
lacking  to  a  modern  university  ?  It  is  said  by  many 
now  that  the  best  definition  of  a  modern  university 
is,  that  it  is  an  institution  where  they  must  have  a 
baseball  and  a  football  team  in  active  operation 
with  an  occasional  lapse  into  literary  pursuits. 
These  you  have. 

Mr.  President,  there  is  something  pathetic  to  me 
in  meeting  in  these  halls,  where  I  miss  the  presence 
of  so  many  who  used  to  gather  here  years  ago,  to 
lend  their  cheer  to  this  festive  occasion.  Who  can 
forget  the  venerable  teacher  Dr.  Torre}-,  whose 
scholarly  soul  shone  out  through  that  radiant  face 
so  as  to  fascinate  all  who  looked  upon  it ;  Leonard 
Marsh,  whose  learning  was  equalled  only  by  his 
taciturnity ;  and  my  younger  colleagues,  Petty, 
Henry  Torrey,  Collier  and  Barbour,  each  one  a 
great  force  in  his  particular  branch  of  work  ;  and 
there  were  so  many  others  from  this  city  who  used 
to  gather  with  us.  There  was  that  distinguished 
man,  Edward  J.  Phelps,  whom  the  world  likes  to 
think  of  chiefly  as  the  ablest  of  lawyers  and  a  great 
diplomat ;  but  we  here  who  knew  him  well  love  to 


PRESIDENT    ANGELL'S    SPEECH  277 

think  '*roQimi  first  of  all  as  a  most  charming  and 
fascinating  companion,  and  we  miss  his  step  at 
every  corner  and  every  place.  And  there  was  that 
good  old  physician,  Dr.  Thayer,  with  such  breezy 
vitality  that  when  he  entered  the  room  it  scat- 
tered germs  of  disease  far  better  than  any  of  his 
drugs ;  and  Dr.  Crosby,  with  his  wit  and  humor 
of  such  charming  quality  that  we  cannot  think  of 
any  world  that  he  can  be  in  where  wit  and  humor 
must  not  still  be  admired.  These  and  how  many 
others  do  we  look  for  in  vain.  I  do  not  mention 
the  loss  of  these  men  to  cast  a  cloud  of  gloom  over 
these  festive  times.  That  is  the  last  thing  I  should 
wish,  the  last  thing  they  would  wish.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  recall  those  who  are  absent  merely  to 
encourage  our  friends  to  believe  that  an  institution 
which  has  had  such  friends  as  these,  an  institution 
into  whose  life  such  men  have  builded  their  lives 
and  their  hearts,  has  a  foundation  on  which  a 
superstructure  may  be  reared  to  last  forever. 

It  has  been  a  great  delight  to  see  so  many  of  the 
old  graduates  here.  I  sometimes  wonder  after  all 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  enthusiasm  of  occasions  like 
this, — perhaps  we  college  officers  demand  a  little 
too  much  for  the  Alma  Mater, — but  I  cannot  help 
wondering  sometimes  whether  we,  the  alumni,  ap- 
preciate all  the  college  has  been  to  us.  I  do  not 
refer  now  to  the  painful  reminiscences  of  dry  recita- 
tions and  hard  college  tasks,  but  rather  to  the  four 
years  of  life  spent  within  the  walls  which  are  hal- 


278  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

lowed  bv  the  memory  of  so  many  of  the  great  and 
good  who  have  been  there  before  us,  to  the  hours 
which  brought  us  the  most  charming  and  enduring 
companionships  and  friendships  of  life,  the  times 
which  kept  us  in  communion  with  the  best  thinkers 
in  every  branch  of  science  and  letters  and  art,  and 
finally  to  the  day  when  we  received  the  diploma 
which  admitted  us  into  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the 
scholars  of  all  the  world.  If  we  have  souls  with 
any  sensibility,  we  ought  to  be  filled  with  gratitude 
to  the  Dear  Mother  who  has  opened  to  us  all  these 
blessed  privileges  and  opportunities.  It  is  the  cus- 
tom in  the  English  universities,  and  by  law  it  is  made 
their  privilege,  that  the  alumni  should  be  consid- 
ered and  called  the  university.  Although  we  have 
no  legal  endorsement  of  that  custom  in  this  country, 
it  is  none  the  less  true  ;  it  is  you  that  make  the 
university  in  a  large  sense  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
The  old  Romans  had  a  motto,  "  Ubi  Romanus,  ibi 
Roma,"  "  Wherever  is  a  Roman,  there  is  Rome," 
and  why  cannot  we  say  that,  wherever  are  the 
alumni,  there  is  the  university?  It  is  for  each  of 
you  to  say,  This  is  my  responsibility  and  privilege. 
I  know  that  you  are  often  asked  to  remember  this 
by  gifts  to  the  Alma  Mater,  but,  friends,  remember 
that  the  Dear  Mother  has  a  claim  upon  you  all,  and 
if  you  sometimes  weary  of  the  solicitations,  let  me 
utter  a  simple  truth,  that  if  the  time  ever  comes 
when  this  University,  or  any  university  does  not 


PRESIDENT    ANGELL'S    SPEECH  279 

want,  does  not  really  need  more  money,  that  uni- 
versity has  begun  to  die. 

Growth  is  the  condition  of  life  and  life  is  the  test 
of  growth,  and  for  life  and  growth  this  University 
must  continue  to  call  for  larger  and  larger  supplies 
through  her  Alma  Mater  or  from,  I  hope  some 
day,  this  State  of  Vermont,  as  such.  I  live  in 
a  state  where  the  state  cares  for  the  University, 
and  perhaps  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  that 
we  have  come  to  believe,  after  sixty  or  seventy 
years'  trial,  that  if  there  is  anything  that  pays  the 
state  for  its  investment,  it  is  money  put  into  a  well 
regulated  and  well  conducted  university.  Every 
dollar  which  goes  into  its  treasury  and  is  properly 
spent,  brings  forth  ten-fold  and  a  hundred-fold  to 
the  state  itself.  We  who  are  conducting  these 
institutions  must  of  course  give  way  at  last  to  those 
who  are  to  follow  us.  The  oldest  generation  must 
pass  on  as  generations  have  gone  before  us,  yet 
there  is  one  blessed  consolation  in  the  fact,  as  we 
gather  at  such  a  celebration  as  this,  that  although 
some  of  us  are  beginning  to  feel  the  weight  of  years 
resting  upon  us,  yet  the  University  never  bends 
beneath  that  weight  of  years,  but  she  will  ever  go 
on,  growing,  increasing  and  flourishing  more  and 
more,  fresh  in  eternal  youth. 

The  President  : — There  are  two  New  England 
Colleges  with  which  our  University  has  always  had 
very  close  sympathy  in  spirit  and  idea.     Both  their 


280  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

Presidents  are  with  us  here  today.  I  am  sure  that 
President  Tucker  will  be  glad  to  be  reminded  of  our 
kinship  with  Dartmouth  through  the  men  who  in 
early  times  brought  light  and  leading  from  Dart- 
mouth to  the  University — our  Marsh,  Wheeler  and 
Torrey  ;  all  Dartmouth  men — and  I  am  glad  that 
Dartmouth  is  represented  here  by  one  who  is  of  the 
same  spiritual  temper  with  these  men,  President 
William  Jewett  Tucker. 

[President  Tucker's  admirable  speech  cannot  be  recov- 
ered from  the  stenographer's  notes  or  from  the  reports  in 
the  daily  journals.  An  appeal  was  made  to  him  for  a  copy, 
but  without  avail.  Among  other  things,  he  spoke  of  the 
early  rivalry  between  Dartmouth  College  and  the  Univer- 
sity, and  the  barriers  which  the  State  line  offered  to  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  sphere  of  Dartmouth  westward.  The 
northern  tier  of  colleges,  he  said,  were  self-centered,  and 
he  rejoiced  in  their  existence,  and  in  what  they  had  achieved 
in  spite  of  the  attractions  of  larger  institutions.  They  are 
sources  of  academic  power,  and  their  influence  radiates 
through  the  entire  country.  In  their  earlier  history,  the 
chief  output  of  the  colleges  had  been  ministers.  When 
statesmen  were  called  for,  the  colleges  had  been  prompt  to 
respond  with  an  effort  to  supply  the  training  required  for 
political  and  diplomatic  careers.  Today,  in  answer  to  the 
general  demand  for  trained  men  in  positions  requiring  sci- 
entific knowledge,  the  colleges  were  putting  more  and  more 
men  into  scientific  courses,  and  preparing  them  for  scien- 
tific research.  There  was  no  source  of  power  the  colleges 
were  not  discovering,  and  no  place  of  power  which  they 
were  not  ready  to  occupy.  .  .  .  But — the  foregoing  is 
not  even  an  abstract  of  a  speech,  the  loss  of  which  we  deeply 
regret.] 


PRESIDENT  HOPKINS'S  SPEECH  281 

The  President  : — We  are  glad  to  have  with  us 
the  President  of  Williams  College,  an  institution 
which  also  gave  us,  in  early  times,  one  of  our  great 
teachers  and  organizers,  Professor  George  Wyllys 
Benedict.  I  present  to  you  President  Henry  Hop- 
kins, the  worthy  son  of  that  great  teacher,  Mark 
Hopkins. 

SPEECH    OF   PRESIDENT    HOPKINS 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

You,  Mr.  President,  are  asking  a  hard  thing  of 
me,  introducing  me  to  speak  without  a  moment's 
notice  after  addresses  so  weighty  and  so  eloquent 
as  those  to  which  we  have  listened.  I  feel  however 
most  highly  complimented  by  the  introduction, 
although  at  a  loss  as  to  what  I  should  say.  Pardon 
me  if  I  am  reminded  of  the  Irish  soldier  in  the 
brigade  to  which  I  belonged.  He  was  digging  at 
night  in  an  intrenchment,  when  his  colonel  rode  up 
to  him,  held  out  his  canteen  and  asked  if  he  would 
like  a  drink  of  whisky.  Pat  threw  down  his  shovel, 
struck  an  attitude,  looked  up  into  the  sky  and  said 
nothing.  The  colonel  repeated  his  question.  Then 
he  said'  "Colonel,  I  was  struck  spacheless ;  I 
thought  it  was  an  angel  talking  to  me."  I  was 
almost  struck  speechless,  but  I  am  frank  to  confess 
that  I  rejoice  in  this  opportunity  to  have  a  part  in 
the  expression  of  the  universal  joy  of  this  hour. 

President  Tucker  has  just  told  us  of  the  singular 
and  apparently  fortuitous  location  in  their  several 


282  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

States  of  the  New  England  Colleges,  and  seemed 
at  a  loss  as  to  where  Williams  might  be.  It  is 
situated  on  the  very  border  of  three  States,  and  it 
is  said  to  be  true  that  if  the  line  had  been  correctly 
surveyed  a  slice  of  the  town  of  Williamstown,  in- 
cluding that  portion  in  which  the  colleges  are  now 
built,  would  have  been  made  over  to  your  own  State 
of  Vermont. 

Whether  fortunately  planted  or  not,  these  insti- 
tutions have  struck  their  roots  deep,  and  have 
reached  wide  their  fruitful  boughs. 

In  my  residence  at  the  west  I  was  greatly  im- 
pressed with  the  dignity  and  worth  of  the  great 
University  Guild  of  our  nation  ;  and  since  return- 
ing, this  thought  has  gained  new  force.  During 
all  of  these  exercises  a  sense  of  this  has  been  freshly 
borne  in  upon  me.  The  array  of  distinguished 
men,  the  present  and  the  absent,  who  have  gone 
out  from  here  is  imposing,  but  they  are  only  a  little 
fraction  of  the  whole.  Consider  the  thousands  of 
new  graduates  who  are  being  sent  forth  in  this 
vernal  season  from  all  our  Colleges  and  Univer- 
sities to  swell  the  great  number  of  this  always 
increasing  body  of  men  and  women  who  with  their 
trained  intelligence  together  represent  the  great 
University  Guild  of  the  Republic. 

I  know  of  no  more  inspiring  spectacle,  of  no 
more  hopeful  fact  than  this.  It  is  safe  to  say  of  the 
vast  majority  of  these,  as  they  go  back  and  mingle 
in  the  active  life  of  the  people,  that  they  carry  with 


PRESIDENT  HOPKINS'S  SPEECH  283 

them  not  only  intelligent  ideas  of  what  constitutes 
citizenship,  but  also  high  ideals  and  a  lofty  moral 
purpose.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  as  a  body  they  are 
on  the  right  side  of  great  vital  moral  questions. 
They  are  a  force  that  will  have  to  be  more  and 
more  recognized  and  reckoned  with  by  the  forces  of 
evil.  In  view  of  the  portentous  problems  that  are 
in  front  of  us  the  presence  everywhere  of  this  in- 
creasing company  is  to  the  thoughtful  American 
citizen  an  immense  source  of  hope  and  promise.  I 
know  of  none  greater.  While  we  are  making 
scholars  and  cultivated  men  of  affairs  we  are  also 
producing  the  incorruptible  citizen. 

This  afternoon  reminds  us  that  in  the  Republic 
of  Letters  there  are  no  State  lines.  In  the  fellow- 
ship of  scholars  there  are  only  common  interests.  I 
bring  to  you,  Sir,  hearty  greeting  and  congratula- 
tion from  Williams  College.  We  remember  your 
welcome  presence  with  us  at  our  Centennial  eleven 
years  ago.  We  rejoice  in  the  growing  prosperity 
of  your  University,  and  anticipate  for  it  a  still  more 
illustrious  future. 

The  President  : — The  time  was  when  this  Uni- 
versity was  in  somewhat  intimate  relations  with 
McGill  College  of  Montreal,  when  reciprocal  cour- 
tesies were  exchanged  and  fellowship  was  cultivated. 
The  absence  of  these  relations  in  recent  years  is  a 
matter  of  regret  to  us,  at  least,  and  I  am  sure  we 
should  be  glad  if  this  occasion  should  be  the  means 


284  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

of  renewing  the  old  pleasant  relations.  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  extending  the  welcome  of  the 
University  of  Vermont  to  McGill  University  and  to 
its  representative  on  this  occasion,  Vice-Chancellor 
Charles  E.  Moyse. 

SPEECH   OF   VICE-PRINCIPAL  MOYSE 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

Yon  have  unexpectedly  asked  me,  Mr.  President, 
to  speak  on  this  occasion,  and  by  way  of  paying  an 
old  debt,  but  I  fear  that  on  sudden  demand  my  cash 
supply  will  be  found  to  be  low. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  be  here,  and  in  the 
name  of  McGill  University  to  congratulate  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont  on  attaining  its  One  Hundredth 
Anniversary.  In  the  history  of  institutions,  as  of 
individuals,  there  are  occasions,  like  the  present,  of 
wide-spread  rejoicing — tempered  by  reflection — that 
come  naturally  through  the  simple  lapse  of  years. 
Byron  once  declared  that  he  had  had  only  three 
perfectly  happy  days  in  the  course  of  his  lurid  and 
chequered  career.  I  do  not  know  how  many  per- 
fectly happy  days  your  University  has  had  since  its 
foundation.  From  what  I  have  learned  since  I  came 
here  your  University  has  had  its  periods  of  storm 
and  stress  ;  those  who  have  ruled  it  have  had  their 
days  of  anxiety  and  doubt,  while  those  who  have 
taught  in  it  must  have  had  their  hours  of  misgiving, 
and  other  hours  too,  when,  in  the  quiet  of  the  study, 
some  memory  of  words  of  gratitude  uttered  by  their 


VICE-PRINCIPAL    MOYSE'S    SPEECH  285 

students  has  brought  that  peace  which,  as  an  old 
schoolmaster  of  mine  used  to  say,  is  like  no  peace 
on  earth  except  the  peace  of  God,  "the  peace  that 
passeth  all  understanding."  But  leaving  difficul- 
ties and  despondencies,  I  am  sure  that  if  those  who 
founded  your  University,  and  those  who  have  helped 
to  build  it  up  during  the  last  hundred  years,  were 
present  with  us  now,  they  would  say  that  this  is  the 
most  momentous  and  the  happiest  day  your  College 
has  known. 

To  your  celebration,  Mr.  President,  you  have 
asked  from  all  quarters  of  your  strenuous  and  pro- 
gressive country  an  academic  brotherhood,  to  rejoice 
with  you,  to  moralize  with  you,  and  to  wish  your 
University  many  returns  of  a  Centennial  Day.  And 
you  have  not  forgotten  your  kinsmen  in  a  neigh- 
boring colony  of  the  British  Empire.  Although 
McGill  is  not  an  American  University,  those  who 
belong  to  it  can  scarcely  regard  themselves  as 
strangers  or  foreigners  in  a  land  where  people  come 
from  the  same  stock,  speak  the  same  tongue,  and 
lay  claim  to  a  joint  literary  heritage, — a  heritage  of 
surpassing  richness  and  unusual  power,  and  one 
which  might  very  well  be  the  pride  of  two  great 
peoples.  Personally,  I  have  been  welcomed  as  if  I 
were  a  brother  American,  and  that  is  saying  a  great 
deal.  I  shall  always  remember  the  hospitality  and 
pleasure  I  have  experienced  in  this  visit  to  your 
University  and  city — a  city  which  seems  to  take 
pride  in  a  University  that  lends  an  additional  charm 


286  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

to  its  beauty,  and  seems  to  give  it  a  sense  of  com- 
pleteness. And  on  turning  to  the  programme  of 
your  festivities  I  see  that  Burlington  has  done  its 
duty  in  making  this  occasion  what  it  has  proved  to 
be,  a  great  success.  Nor  must  I  omit  to  express  how 
much  the  loyalty  and  zeal  of  the  students  have 
impressed  me.  Last  evening  I  saw  some  of  them 
perform  The  Tempest.  Before  yesterday,  some 
twenty  years  had  passed  since  I  witnessed  it,  and 
as  I  saw  the  familiar  scenes  and  heard  the  familiar 
lines,  I  thought  the  play  extremely  appropriate. 
Whether  the  choice  was  due  to  chance  or  design  I 
do  not  know,  but  the  play  seemed  to  me,  I  repeat, 
a  strikingly  fitting  one.  Its  possible  bearing  on 
the  life  of  him  who  wrote  it,  its  presentation  of  the 
might  of  intellectualism  and  of  the  seeming  omnip- 
otence of  magic,  with  its  truly  Shakespearean 
nemesis  of  renunciation  and  return, — all  these 
things  seemed  to  point  an  academic  moral,  the 
moral  that  no  matter  how  lofty  may  be  our  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  efforts  in  academic  work, 
academic  work  has  to  keep  in  touch  always  with 
the  large  and  living  world  of  men. 

To  return  to  the  University  of  Vermont  and  Mc- 
Gill  University.  The  two  Universities  have  been 
brought  together  in  academic  effort.  Of  recent 
years  the  connection  has  been  somewhat  close,  for 
some  of  my  colleagues  in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine 
have  been  giving  lectures  to  the  students  of  your 
Medical  School,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  me,  in  this 


VICE-PRINCIPAL    MOYSE'S    SPEECH  287 

place  and  on  this  occasion,  to  think  that  the  names 
of  Shirres  and  McCrae  are  as  familiar  to  the 
students  of  the  University  of  Vermont  as  they  are 
to  students  of  McGill.  And  I  remember  that  both 
Universities  are  young.  We,  Mr.  President,  are 
slightly  younger  than  3^011  are, — twenty-five  years 
vounger.  Next  session  McGill  University  will  cel- 
ebrate its  seventy- fifth  birthday.  Being  young, 
both  Universities  are  ' '  ripe  for  exploits  and  mighty 
enterprises, ' '  although  perhaps  in  view  of  what  was 
said  yesterday  at  the  laying  of  the  foundation  stone 
of  your  Medical  Building,  the  quotation  seems 
scarcely  appropriate.  The  Governor  of  your  State 
was  then  referred  to  as  "  particeps  criminis"  a 
participator  in  the  crime  of  laying  a  foundation 
stone  of  a  building  for  which  there  were  scanty  or 
no  funds.  But  Universities  have  to  live  on  faith. 
Nor  do  I  imagine  that  the  crime  which  was  spoken 
of  will  rest  very  heavily  on  the  consciences  of  those 
who  are  committing  it.  I  feel  quite  sure  that  the 
foundation  stone  which  was  laid  yesterday  will 
speedily  form  part  of  a  well-equipped  building, 
which  will,  I  trust,  soon  become  known  as  one  of 
the  very  foremost  centres  of  instruction  in  the  Med- 
ical world.  And  I  remember,  again,  that  both 
Universities  have  been  fashioned  to  meet  the  prac- 
tical wants  of  two  practical  peoples.  Yet  it  is  borne 
in  upon  me  to  say  that  I  think  it  is  quite  possible 
to  go  a  little  too  far  in  the  practical  direction.  I 
am  not  an  old  man,  but  as  I  grow  older  I  find  my 


288  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT 

views  getting  more  and  more  conservative  in  certain 
matters.  I  sometimes  think  that  too  much  is  said 
in  the  way  of  boast  about  the  practical  glory  of  onr 
age.  Wrangle  as  we  may  about  the  essentials  and 
modes  of  education,  one  truth  is  always  looming  up 
before  the  minds  of  those  who  think  much  about 
education,  and  that  is,  that  education  is  not  the 
influence  of  books  upon  men,  but  rather  the  influ- 
ence of  men  upon  men.  I  am  not  undervaluing 
the  worth  of  a  good  book.  In  one  place  Milton 
declares  that  a  good  book  is  the  image  of  God.  I 
am  a  staunch  believer  in  the  power  of  good  books, 
but,  to  refer  to  college  life,  I  would  ask  how  many 
college  students  think  of  college  note-books  when 
they  pass  their  college  life  in  review  ?  If  they  have 
kept  their  college  note-books,  they  take  them  down 
from  a  neglected  shelf  only  on  rare  occasions,  and 
only,  perhaps,  when  the  pride  of  memory  requires 
chastening.  No,  our  recollections  of  college  life 
are  mainly  the  recollections  of  one  or  two  men 
who  have  helped  to  mould  our  intellectual  lives  and 
encourage  us  in  our  career.  That  is  the  influence 
which  remains  from  college  life.  May  your  Uni- 
versity, Mr.  President,  be  rich  in  such  men,  and 
may  it  realize  a  pious  wish  of  Dr.  Johnson  ;  may  it 
be  rich  enough  to  keep  them  ! 

Although  I  have  spoken  at  greater  length  than  I 
had  intended,  I  should  like  to  say  just  one  word  to 
the  students  before  I  sit  down.  Life  is  made  up  of 
small  things  ;  academic  life,  even,  is  made  up  of 


VICE-PRINCIPAL    MOYSE'S    SPEECH  289 

small  things ;  and  the  one  lesson  which  life,  whether 
long  or  short,  seems  to  teach  is,  to  be  kind  in  small 
things.  If  I  had  to  decide  on  a  college  motto,  I 
should  not  take  it  from  any  learned  classical  source  ; 
I  should  not  choose  ' '  know  thyself  ' '  or  anything 
of  that  sort,  but  rather  should  I  turn  to  one  of  your 
own  poets,  the  first  poet  I  remember  reading  when 
a  boy  in  my  English  home,  three  thousand  miles 
away, — I  mean  Longfellow — and  to  the  lines, 

Whene'er  a  noble  deed  is  wrought, 
Whene'er  is  spoken  a  noble  thought, 
Our  hearts,  in  glad  surprise, 
To  higher  levels  rise." 

May  your  college,  Mr.  President,  be  a  home  of  such 
thoughts  and  deeds,  and  may  such  thoughts  and 
deeds  become  more  and  more  powerful  in  the  world 
as  time  goes  on  ! 

The  President  : — We  shall  not  be  quite  happy 
without  a  friendly  word  from  our  neighbor  and 
sister  College  of  Middlebury.  And  I  want  it  un- 
derstood, if  it  is  not  so  already,  that  the  reason  why 
the  President  of  Middlebury  was  not  included 
among  our  laureates  today  is  that  he  has  for  several 
years  worn  the  hood  of  our  doctorate — President 
Ezra  Brainerd. 

SPEECH   OF   PRESIDENT   BRAINERD 

I  am  sure  you  will  forgive  me,  if  under  the 
circumstances  I  simply  express,  in  a  very  few 
words,   the  hearty  congratulations  of  Middlebury 

19 


290  UNIVERSITY   OF   VERMONT 

College  on  the  prosperity  of  this  University,  as  it 
closes  its  one  hundred  years  of  work.  As  Presi- 
dent Bnekham  has  said,  geographically  we  are 
the  nearest  to  yon  of  the  New  England  colleges, 
and  perhaps  for  that  reason  we  know  best  of  the 
excellent  work  that  has  been  done  here.  For  it 
gives  me  great  pleasure  to  assure  yon,  that  during 
the  wise  and  liberal  administration  of  President 
Buckham  there  has  existed  a  cordial  friendship  be- 
tween these  two  colleges  in  the  Champlain  valley. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  petty  jealousies  of  the 
past,  during  the  present  generation  there  have  been 
most  pleasant  relations  between  the  faculties  and 
alumni  of  these  sister  institutions.  We  have  worked 
side  by  side  in  our  efforts  to  solve  important  local 
problems  in  geology  and  natural  history,  and  in  our 
endeavors  to  interest  the  people  of  Vermont  in  the 
higher  education.  In  the  century  to  come  may 
these  two  institutions  continue  to  work  side  by  side 
in  harmony  for  the  advancement  of  all  that  pertains 
to  sound  learning  and  for  the  promotion  of  cleaner 
politics  and  kindlier  sympathies  among  men. 

The  President  : — The  closing  word  of  this  fes- 
tival is  one  which  will  give  special  pleasure  to  the 
younger  alumni  and  will  gratify  all  who  wish  the 
University  to  have  all  the  good  things  which  the 
times  demand.  Since  the  speaking  began  here,  a 
transaction  has  been  completed  which  puts  the  Uni- 
versity in  possession  of  what  is  known  as  the  Ains- 


PRESIDENT    BRAINERD'S    SPEECH  291 

worth  athletic  field,  a  tract  of  eight  acres,  as  flat  as 
this  table,  within  easy  distance  of  the  College,  every 
way  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  an  athletic  field 
proper,  and  an  estate  of  woodland,  ravine,  pasture 
and  running  brook,  amounting  in  all  to  sixty  acres 
and  abounding  in  possibilities,  horticultural,  bo- 
tanic, decorative,  golfic,  and  others,  delightful  to 
think  of. 

And  now,  having  opened  this  stream  of  eloquence 
with  a  quotation  from  Tennyson,  I  shall  close  the 
sluices  with  a  line  from  Virgil  : 

"Claudite  iam  rivos,  pueri ;  sat  prata  biberunt." 


REGISTRATION 


REGISTRATION 


DELEGATES   AND   INVITED   GUESTS 

James  Burrill  Angell   Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

President  of  Michigan  University 
Percy  Atkin    

Capt.  and  British  Royal  ComW  at  La.  Purchase  Exposition 
Wilbur  Olin  Atwater    Middletown,   Conn. 

Professor  in  Wesley  an  University 
Arthur  Whittier  Ayer    Philadelphia,   Pa. 

Professor  in  University  of  Vermont,    1892-1902 
Charles  Montague  Bakewell Boulder,   Colo. 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Colorado 
John   Lester   Barstow    Shelburne 

Ex-Governor  of  Vermont 
George  Wyllys  Benedict   Providence,  R.  I. 

Professor  in  Brown  University 
Robert  Dewey  Benedict  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Vice-President   Trustees  Adelphi  College 

Frederick   Billings    New  York  City 

John  Henry  Blodgett   Saxtons  River 

Ezra  Brainerd   Middlebury 

President  of  Middlebury  College 
David  Josiah  Brewer   Washington,    D.    C. 

Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
Charles  Comstock  Brill   Northfield,   Vt. 

Dean  of  Norivich  University 
Wilder  Luke  Burnap   , Burlington 

Professor  in  Medical  Dept.,  University  of  Vermont,  1884-1895 
Harry  Edwin  Burton   Hanover,  N.  H. 

Professor  in  Dartmouth  College  r 

Elmer  Hewitt  Capen    Medford,  Mass. 

President  of  Tufts  College 
Charles  Edgar  Clark    Washington,    D.   C. 

Admiral  U.  S.  Navy 

Vinton  Albert  Clark   Tucson,  Ariz. 

Charles   Hial   Darling    Washington,    D.    C. 

Assistant  Secretary  U.  S.  Navy 


296  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Davis   Rich   Dewey    Boston,  Mass. 

Professor  Mass.  Institute  of  Technology 
William   Archibald   Dunning    New  York  City 

Professor  in  Columbia  University 
John    Huston    Finley    New  York  City 

Professor  in  College  of  City  of  New  York 
David  Johnson  Foster   Burlington 

Member  of  Congress 
John  Franklin  Genung   Amherst,  Mass. 

Professor  in  Amherst  College 
Edward  Herrick  Griffin  Baltimore,    Md. 

Dean  of  College  Department  of  Johns  Hopkins  University 
William  Rainey  Harper  Chicago,    111. 

President  of  Chicago  University 
Jesse  H.  Holmes    Swarthmore,   Pa. 

Professor  in  Swarthmore  College 

Henry  Holt    Burlington 

Oliver  Otis  Howard    Burlington 

Major-General,  U.  S.  A.,  retired 
Walter   Eugene   Howard    Middlebury 

Professor  in  Middlebury  College 
Henry  Hopkins    Williamstown,    Mass. 

President  of  Williams  College 

Charles   Artemas   Kent    Detroit,    Mich. 

Edmund  Janes  James    Evanston,   111. 

President  of  Northwestern  University 
Frederick  Scheetz  Jones   Ann    Arbor,    Mich. 

Dean  of  the  University  of  Michigan 

John  Adam  Kasson  Washington,    D.    C. 

Henry  Lefavour   Boston,  Mass. 

President  of  Simmons  College 
John  Griffith  McCullough   Bennington 

Governor  of  Vermont 
Joseph  Walker  Marsh    • Forest  Grove,   Ore. 

Professor  in  Pacific  University 
George   Edmands   Merrill    Hamilton,   N.   Y. 

President  of  Colgate  University 
John  Stephen  Michaud    Burlington 

Bishop  of  Burlington,  Vermont 
Charles  E.  Moyse  Montreal,    Ca. 

Vice-Principal  of  McGill  University 


REGISTRATION  297 

Charles  Sumner  Murkland   Middlebury 

Ex-President  N.  H.  College  of  Agriculture 
Charles  Willis  Needham   Washington,    D.   C. 

President  of  Columbian  University 
John  Ordronaux    ( Roslyn,    N.    Y. 

Professor  Emeritus  in  University  of  Vermont 

Frank   William   Page    Boston,  Mass. 

Samuel   Ball   Platner    Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Professor  in  Western  Reserve  University 
Walter    Eugene    Ranger    Montpelier 

State  Superintendent  of  Education 
Andrew  Van  Vranken  Raymond    . ., Schenectady,    N.    Y. 

Chancellor  of  Union  College 
Bradford   Paul   Raymond    Middletown,   Conn. 

President  of  Wesleyan  University 
Alexander  Rodgers    Fort  Ethan  Allen 

Lieutenant-Colonel  15th  U.  S.  Cavalry 
Laurenus  Clark  Seelye    Northampton,   Mass. 

Professor  of  Smith  College 

George   Burley   Spalding   Syracuse,   N.   Y. 

Wendell    Phillips    Stafford    Washington,   D.   C. 

Associate  Justice,  Supreme  Court  of  District  of  Columbia 
John  Wolcott  Stewart   , Middlebury 

Trustee  of  Middlebury  College 
William  Wallace  Stickney   Ludlow 

Ex-Governor  of  Vermont 
Charles   Paine  Thayer    Boston,   Mass. 

Dean  of  Medical  Department,  Boston  University 
Henry  Augustus  Torrey    Cambridge,   Mass. 

Professor  in  Harvard  University 
Charles  Cutler  Torrey   New  Haven,   Conn. 

Professor  in  Yale  University 
William  Jewett  Tucker Hanover,  N.   H. 

President  of  Dartmouth  College 
Charles   Lincoln   White    ,. Waterville,   Me. 

President  of  Colby  College 
George  Grafton  Wilson   Providence,  R.  I. 

Professor  in  Brown  University 
Frank   Edward   Woodruff Brunswick,    Me. 

Professor  in  Bowdoin  College 


REGISTRATION 

OF 

GRADUATES  AND  FORMER  STUDENTS  (NOT  GRAD- 
UATES) ATTENDING  THE  CELEBRATION 

Bert  Wood  Abbey,   1891    Essex 

Mrs.  Annis  Lucy  Isham  Abbey,  Ph.B.1886.Essex 

Lee  Clark  Abbott,  Ph.  B.  1900 Manchester,  N.  H. 

Landon  Abernathy,  M.  D.  1904 Bristol 

Frederika  Abraham,   Ph.   B.   1903 Rutland 

James  Hawley  Aiken,  B.  S.  1900 Benson 

Wellington  Estey  Aiken,   Ph.  B.  1901... Mount  Hermon,   Mass. 
Elmer  E.  Allbee,  C.  E.  1889,  M.  E.  1904.  .Arlington,  N.  J. 

Mrs.  Rachel  Kilburn  Allbee,  1889 Arlington,  N.  J. 

Adelbert   B.   Allen,  Ph.  B.  1900,  M.  D.  1904. Burlington 

Charles  Edwin  Allen,  A.  B.  1859 Burlington 

Charles  Ethan  Allen,  A.  B.  1896 Easthampton,   Mass, 

Edwin  Browne  Allen,  Ph.  B.  1897 Boston,  Mass. 

Joseph  Dana  Allen,  A.  B.  1893 Philadelphia,  Pa. 

John  Johnson  Allen,  A.  B.  1862 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Lyman  Allen,  A.  B.  1893,  M.  D.  1896 Burlington 

Marion  Shaler  Allen,  A.  B.  1895 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

George  Pomeroy  Anderson,  A.  B.  1896.  .Boston,  Mass. 

Bertrand  Joel  Andrews,  M.  D.  1885 Burlington 

Clayton  G.  Andrews,  Ph.B.  1895,M.D.1897.Waterbury 
Max  W.  Andrews,  A.  B.  1899,  A.  M.  1903.Burlington 
Joseph  Antoine  Archambault,  M.  D.  1901. Burlington 

Harry  Nelson  Archibald,  M.  D.  1904 Troy,  N.  Y. 

Robert  Anderson  Arms,   1885 Burlington 

Richard  Edward  Armstrong,  A.  B.  1893.  .Swampscott,    Mass. 

Francis  Joseph  Arnold,  1901 Burlington 

Frances  Maria  Atkinson,  Ph.  B.  1895 Newbury 

Wilbur  Olin  Atwater,  1865 Middletown,  Conn. 

Fannie  Howe  Atwood,  Ph.  B.  1900 Burlington 

Oscar  Atwood,   A.    B.   1864 New    Orleans,    La. 

George  Percival  Auld,  A.  B.  1902 Burlington 

Warren   Robinson  Austin,  Ph.   B.   1899.. St.  Albans 


REGISTRATION  299 

John  Henry  Ayres,  B.  S.  1904 Bennington 

Guy  Winfred  Bailey,  A.  B.   1900 Essex  Junction 

Charles  Whiting  Baker,  C.   E.   1886 Montclair,  N.  J. 

George  Henry  Baker,  A.  B.  1892 Townshend 

Henry  Ballard,  A.  B.  1861 Burlington 

George  Ingersoll  Bard,  A.  B.  1857 Meredith,  N.   H. 

Harry  Barker,  B.  S.  1904 Rutland 

Harry  Asahel  Barker,  1874 Burlington 

Lawrence  Wesley  Barton,  B.  S.  1898. ..  .Ludlow 

Edward  Cary  Bass,  A.  B.  1859. Providence,    R.    I. 

Mary  Russell  Bates,  Ph.  B.  1894 Burlington 

Frederick  Wheaton  Baylies,  M.  D.  1897.  Burlington 

Charles   Arthur   Beach,   1898 Burlington 

Alice  Lillian  Bean,  A.  B.  1902 Newport 

Lillie  Adriance  Bean,  A.  B.  1904 Milton 

William  Silas  Bean,  Ph.  B.  1898 Newport 

William  Asahel  Beebe,  A.  B.  1889.., Morrisville 

Clarence  Henry  Beecher,  M.  D.  1900 Burlington 

Benjamin  Lincoln   Benedict,  A.   B.  1855.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Edward  Grenville  Benedict,  1881 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

George  Grenville  Benedict,  A.  B.  1847. .  .Burlington 

George  Wyllys   Benedict,  A.   B.   1893 Providence,  R.  I. 

James  Dewey  Benedict,  A.  B.  1893 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Robert  Dewey  Benedict,  A.  B.  1848 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Walter   Josephus   Bigelow,   1895 Burlington 

Henry  Raymond  Biggar,  M.  D Middlefield   Center,  N.Y. 

Avery  Douglass   Billings,   1896 Burlington 

Frederick  Billings,  Ph.  B.  1890 New  York  City 

Charles  Francis  Blair,  A.  B.  1896 Morrisville 

Norris  Darling  Blake,  A.  B.  1896 Burlington 

George  Yemans  Bliss,  A.  B.  1889 Burlington 

William  Young  Bliss,  M.  D.  1879 Tully,   N.   Y. 

John  H.  Blodgett,  Ph.  B.  1895,  M.  D.  1897.Saxton's  River 
Hermon  D.  Bone,  B.  S.  1901,  M.  D.  1904. Wells  River 
Boardman  Birney  Bosworth,  A.  B.  1891.  New  York  City 

May  Olive  Boynton,  Ph.  B.  1894 Burlington 

Mrs.  Arline  E.  Ladd  Brackett,  Ph.B.  1897.Jamaica  Plain,  Mass. 

Helen   Katharine   Brainerd,   1898 St.  Albans 

Graton  S.  Brand,  B.  S.  1901 New  York  City 

Samuel  Ingersoll  Bryant,  A.  B.  1863. . .  .Westboro,  Mass. 
Clark  Cleland  Briggs,  A.  B.  1894 Burlington 


300  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Frederick  Sumner  Briggs,  A.  B.  1904. ..  Brandon 

Mrs.  Edith  Cook  Bristol,  Ph.  B.  1903 Burlington 

Ernest  Asa  Brodie,  C.  E.  1886 Burlington 

George  David  Brodie,  A.  B.  1903 Burlington 

Theron  Cumins  Brooks,  B.  S.  1901 Randolph 

James  Artemas  Brown,  A.  B.  1863 Burlington 

Thomas  Stevens  Brown,  M.  D.  1904 Deerfield,   N.   H. 

Carl  B.  Brownell,  A.  B.  1899,  B.  S.  1904.  Burlington 
Chauncey  Sherman  Brownell,  B.  S.  1904. Burlington 
Chauncey  Wells  Brownell,  A.  B.  1870. ..  Burlington 

Elva  Mabel  Brownell,  A.  B.  1901 Burlington 

Sarah  Van  Sicklen  Brownell,  A.  B.  1877.Burlington 

George  Orin  Bryant,  B.  S.  1902 Williston 

Charles  Stephen  Buchanan,  M.  D.  1904.. Troy,  N.  Y. 
Matthew  Henry  Buckham,  A.  B.  1851. ..  Burlington 
John  H.  Buffum,  Ph.  B.  1896,  M.  D.  1898.Wallingford 
Mrs.  Jean  Alice  Christie  Bull,  A.  B.  1886. Spokane,  Wash. 
Curtis  Charles  A.  Bullock,  M.  D.  1904.  .Roxton's  Pond,  P.  Q. 

Lucy  Florence  Burdick,  A.  B.  1895 Burlington 

George  Howard  Burrows,  B.   S.  1899. ...  Burlington 

Harry  Cragin  Burrows,  B.  S.  1904 Burlington 

Amy  Maud  Burt,  Ph.  B.  1900 Mt.  Pleasant,  Mich. 

Edward  Page  Butler,  A.  B.  1870 Sunderland,    Mass. 

Charles  Ira  Button,  Ph.  B.  1899 Middlebury 

Henry   Edward   Butler,  A.   B.   1861 Desplaines,   111. 

Ernest  Hiram   Buttles,  A.  B.   1901 Brandon 

Daniel  Leavens  Cady,  Ph.  B.  1886 New  York  City 

Walter  Harriman  Cambridge,  Ph.B.  1894.Southboro.    Mass. 

Thomas  Hawley  Canfield,  A.  B.  1896 Lake  Park,  Minn. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  N.  Canfield,  A.  B.  1896.. Lake  Park,  Minn. 
Benjamin  Walter  Carpenter,  M.  D.  1857. Burlington 
Geneva  Claire  Carpenter,  Ph.  B.  1902. . .  Brookfield 

Silas   Ralph   Carpenter,   1901 Richford 

Sidney  Stetson  Carruth,  M.  D.  1893 Dorchester,   Mass. 

John  Alden  Chase,  B.   S.   1899 Boston,  Mass. 

Charles   Albert  Catlin,   A.   B.   1873 Providence,  R.  I. 

George  Boardman  Catlin,  A.  B.  1880. .. -Burlington 

Newman  Keyes  Chaffee,  A.  B.  1891 Rutland 

Frank  Wilbut  Chamberlain,  B.  S.  1904. .  Springfield 

Thomas  Charles  Cheney,  A.  B.  1891 Morrisville 

Heman  Bethuel  Chittenden,  1871 Burlington 


REGISTRATION  301 

Merritt  Darrow  Chittenden,  A.  B.  1894.  .Brandon 

William  George  Church,  M.  D.   1878 Burlington 

Frank  Horace  Clapp,  A.  B.1886,  M.D.1888.North  Grafton,  Mass. 

Anna  May  Clark,  Ph.   B.  1898 Brookfield 

Arthur  William   Clark,   B.   S.   1904 Glover 

Charles  Frederick  Clark,   B.  S.  1897 Glover 

Charles  Wallace  Clark,  A.  B.  1855 Georgia 

Frederick  Ellsworth  Clarke,  M.  D.  1894. Burlington 

Helen  Gordon  Clark,  Ph.  B.  1904 Vergennea 

Marvin  Wright  Clark,  Ph.  B.  1886 Richmond 

Vinton  Albert  Clark,  B  S..1898,  M.S.1904. Geneva,  N.  Y. 

William  Colton  Clark,  A.  B.  1885 Lyndon 

John  Murray  Clarke,  M.  D.  1873 Burlington 

Henry  Chamberlain  Clement,  B.  S.  1904.  Burlington 
Gersham  Loveland  Closson,  jr.  M.D.1904.Springfield 

Charles  Austin  Coburn,  Ph.  B.  1897 Wakefield,  Mass. 

George  Buck  Cochran,A.B.1862,  M.D.1867.Hudson,   Mass. 

James  Ora  Codding,  A.  B.  1898.... Rochester 

John  Edward   Colburn,  A.   B.  1896 Manchester 

Mary  Ethel  Colburn,  A.  B.   1903 Union   Village 

Henry   White   Conro,   1864 South   Hero 

John  H.  Converse,  A.B.  1861,  LL.D.  1897. Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Patrick  Michael  James  Corry,  B.  S.  1901.Steelton,  Pa. 

Lillian  Estelle  Corse,  Ph.  B.   1893 ,.Watertown,   N.   Y. 

May  Conro,  Ph.  B.  1902 South    Hero 

James   William  Courtney,  M.   D.   1898. .  .Burlington 

Clarence  Lee  Cowles,  A.  B.  1899 Stowe 

Henry  Leo  Crahan,  M.  D.  1903 Chittenden 

Helen  Lillie  Cram,  A.  B.  1879 West  Bridgewater.MasS. 

LeRoy  Bloom  Cramer,  B.  S.  1904 Mechanicsville,  N.  Y. 

Frank  Hiram  Crandall,  C.  E.  1886 Burlington 

Arthur  Choate  Crombie,  A.  B.  1894 New  York  City 

Florence  Nightingale  Crooker,  Ph.B. 1877. Burlington 

Frank  Grant  Cudworth,  C.  E.  1893 Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Harry  Edward  Cunningham,  A.  B.  1904.  Burlington 

Henry  Herbert  Cushman,  1884 Rochester 

John  Grixston  Currier,  Ph.  B.  1901 New  York  City 

Wilfred   Farr   Daggett,  A.   B.  1895 Proctor 

Charles  Francis  Dalton,  M.  D.  1903 Burlington 

Walter   Alden   Dane,   A.   B.   1903 Manchester 

Harland  Abbott  Danforth,  M.  D.  1904 Peabody,    Mass. 


302  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Richard  Francis  Darling,  A.  B.  1904. ..  .Newbury 

Earle   Russell   Davis,  A.   B.   1895 Barre 

Elmer  Ellsworth  Davis,  1886    Burlington 

James  Lyford  Davis.   B.   S.  1897 New  York  City 

Lewis  Clinton  Day,  M.  D.  1904 Nicholville,    N.    Y. 

Carrie   Esther  Deavitt,  A.   B.   1898 Montpelier 

Edward   Harrington   Deavitt,    Ph.  B.  1893. Montpelier 

Joseph  Dudley  Denison,  A.   B.  1868 Randolph 

Samuel  Sibley  Dennis,  Ph.  B.  1901 Hardwick,    Mass. 

Alice  Harriet  Derby,  Ph.  B.  1902 West  Fairlee 

Wallace  Granville  Derby,   1904 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Roger   Sherman  Derby,  B.   S.  1904 Springfield 

Davis  Rich  Dewey,  A.  B.  1879 Boston,   Mass. 

Julius  Edward  Dewey,  1900,  M.  D.  1904.  Montpelier 
Mrs.  Mary  Louise  M.  Deyette,  A.  B.,  1885  Shelburne 

Isaac  Randall   Doane,  M.   D.1904 Springfield 

Louis    Collins   Dodd,    B.    S.    1898 Buffalo,   N.    Y. 

John  Hazen  Dodds,  M.  D.  1898 Burlington 

James  Edward  Donahue,  Ph.  B.  1902 Essex  Junction 

Carroll  W.  Doten,  Ph.  B.  1895,  A.M.  1899. Cambridge,   Mass. 

Leonard  Smith  Doten,  B.  S.  1897.., Boston,  Mass. 

Florence  Louise  Douglas,  A.  B.  1902. . .  .Westhaven 

Peter  Leo  Dorey,  M.  D.  1904 Underhill 

Albert  R.  Dow,  A.  B.  1870,  C.  E.  1872.  .Burlington 

Charles  Scott  Dow,  1902   Burlington 

Gilbert  Arthur  Dow,  A.  B.  1884 Burlington 

Dean  Spencer  Drake,  M.   D.  1904 West  Lebanon,  N.  H. 

Horatio  Nelson  Drury,  A.  B.  1900 Cortland,   N.   Y. 

Stephen   Farrer  Dunn,  M.  D.   1904 Woonsocket,  R.  I. 

Charles  Howard   Dunton,  A.  B.   1870 Poultney 

Edward  Huntington  Dutcher,  A.  B.  1882.  East   Orange,   N.    J. 

Daniel  Dutcher,  A.  B.  1858 St.    Albana 

Horace  Edward  Dyer,  A.   B.  1893 Rutland 

James  Haworth  Eaton,  A.  B.  1903 Burlington 

George  William  Eddy,  M.  D.  1904 Schuylerville,   N.   Y. 

May  Alice  Edwards,  Ph.  B.  1897 Burlington 

Lester  Hall  Elliot,  A.  B.  1861 Waterbury 

Roswell  Dwight  H.  Emerson,  A.  B.  1904.  Burlington 
William  H.  Englesby,  A.B.1894,  M.D.1S97. Burlington 

Fred  Steele  English,  B.  S.  1896 New  London,  Conn. 

Lewis   Walbridge   English,    B.    S.    189S. .  Woodstock 


REGISTRATION  303 

Eliza  Mabel  Farman,  A.  B.  1899 West  Lebanon,  N.  H. 

Charles   Cyrus  Farnham,  A.  B.  1886 Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Philo  J.  Farnsworth,  A.B.  1854,  M.D.1858. Clinton,  Iowa. 

Helen  May  Ferguson,  Ph.   B.   1901 Burlington 

Allen  Conant  Ferrin,  A.  B.  1883 Springfield 

William   Warren   Ferris,  M.   D.   1904 Portsmouth,  N.  H. 

Bertha  Isadore  Field,  Ph.   B.   1902 North    Springfield 

Ruth  Booth  Fisher,  Ph.   B.   1899 Vergennes 

William  George  E.  Flanders,  M.  D.  1888. Burlington 

Frederick  Gleed  Fleetwood,  1890 Morrisville 

Mrs.  Theodora  M.Plumley  Flint,A.B.1897. Allegheny,   Pa. 

George  Isaac  Forbes,  Ph.  B.  1890 Burlington 

Mrs.Hattie  K.  Andrews  Forbes,Ph.B. 1891. Burlington 

John  Lowe  Fort,  jr.  Ph.  B.  1900 Middleburg,  N.  Y. 

Eugene  Noble  Foss,  1881,  A.  B.  1901 Boston,  Mass. 

Rowe  France,  M.  D.  1904 Burlington 

Lewis  Francis,  A.   B.   1856 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Jesse  Louis  Gammons,  M.   D.   1904 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  Alice  A.McDuffee  Garland,Ph.B.1895.North  Adams,  Mass. 

Walter  Benton  Gates,  A.  B.  1881 Burlington 

Mrs.  Isabella  M.Chandler  Gates.Ph.B.1889  Burlington 

Kathryn  Knee  Gebhardt,  Ph.  B.  1901 Shelburne 

John  Gibson,  M.   D.   1898 St.  Albans 

Ralph  George  Gibson,  A.  B.  1904 Hanover,  N.  H. 

Alfred  Holley  Gilbert,  B.  S.  1904 Dorset 

Anna  Elizabeth  Gilbert,  Ph.  B.  1904 Dorset 

Oliver  Bowen  Gilbert,  B.  S.  1903.., Dorset 

William  Williams  Gilbert,  B.  S.  1904 Dorset 

James  Farnsworth  Goodall,  1885 Burlington 

Grace  Anna  Goodhue,   Ph.   B.  1902 Burlington 

Chauncey  Marsh  Goodrich,  A.  B.  1896, 

B.   S.  1901,  C.   E.   1904 Detroit,  Mich. 

John  Ellsworth  Goodrich,  A.  B.  1853 Burlington 

Glenn   Carlos   Gould,  A.   B.   1900 Morrisville 

Elmer  Ellsworth  Gove,  Ph.  B.  1904 So.  Burlington 

William  Richard  R.  Granger,  M.  D.  1889.  Newport  News,  Va. 

Hollis  Edward  Gray,  A.  B.  1903 Cambridge 

George  Spaulding  Green,  M.  D.  1873. ...  Burlington 

Harry   Henderson   Green,   1899 College  Point,  N.  Y. 

Mary  Isabel  Gregory,  Ph.  B.  1899 Burlington 

Clifford  Burnham  Griswold,  B.  S.  1901. .  Burlington 


304  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Aaron  Hinman  Grout,  Ph.  B.  1901 Derby 

Stillman  Proctor  Grout,  M.  D.  1904 Cavendish 

Hervey  Paul  Gulick,  A.  B.  1903 Charlotte 

Joseph  Bernard  Guiltinan,  M.  D.  1904.  .Bennington 

Charles  Hartt  Hagar,  B.  S.  1896 Burlington 

Henry  Hall  Hagar,  1897 Burlington 

Joseph  Lindley  Hall,  1889    Burlington 

Mrs.  Cora  Mott  Child  Hall,  1889 Burlington 

Samuel  Warren  Hamilton,  A.  B.  1898... New  York  City 

Herbert  Bill   Hanson,   Ph.   B.   1896 Barre 

Delia  Nellie  Harding,  Ph.  B.   1904 CoppernelcJ 

Erwin  Maurice  Harvey,  A.   B.  1896 Montpelier 

John  Nelson  Harvey,  Ph.  B.  1902 Montpelier 

Nathaniel  George  Hathorne,  B.  S.  1904.  .Burlington 
Donly  Curtis   Hawley,  A.B.1878,M.D.1884. Burlington 

Chauncey  Hoyt  Hayden,  A.  B.  1883 Riverside 

Ralph  Linval  Hayes,  A.  B.  1886 Philadelphia,   Pa. 

Austin  Hazen,  A.  B.  1885 Thomaston,   Conn. 

Frank  William   Hazen,   A.   B.   1890 Meriden,  Conn. 

Louis  Hazen,  M.  D.  1883 Burlington 

Tracy  Elliot  Hazen,  A.  B.  1897 New  York  City 

William  S.  Hazen,  A.  B.  1858,  D.  D.  1891.Northfieia 

Helen  Grace  Hendee,  Ph.  B.  1898 Brandon 

Whipple  Frank   Hendee,   1878    Burlington 

George  Henderson,  A.  B.   1901 Hydepark 

Edward  Elisha  Herrick,  A.  B.  1856 Milton 

George  F.  Herrick,  A.  B.  1856,  D.  D.  1878. Constantinople,    Turkey 

Arthur  Henry  Hill,  A.  B.  1882 Isle  La  Motte 

Bert  Hodge  Hill,  A.  B.  1895 Boston,   Mass. 

Henry  W.  Hill,  A.  B.  1876,  LL.D.  1900.  .Buffalo.    N.    Y. 

Hattie  Mason  Hodge,  A.  B.  1903 Burlington 

Mrs.  Lida  A.  Mason  Hodge,  A.  B.  1875.  ..Burlington 

Herbert  Daniel  Hoffnagle,  A.  B.  1884 Ticonderoga,   N.   Y. 

George   Maynard    Hogan,   A.    B.    1897 St.   Albang 

Mahlon  Beach  Holcomb,  A.  B.  1874 Keeseville,    N.    Y. 

George  Jean  Holden,  B.S.  1904,  Lt.  U.S.N. Burlington 

Fred  Martin  Hollister,  B.  S.  1903 Burlington 

Willard  Eugene  Holman,  B.   S.  1903 Randolph 

Elizabeth  Medora  Hood,  Ph.  B.  1889 St.    Paul,    Minn. 

Samuel   Clark   Hood,   B.   S.   1904 Arlington,    Mass. 

Theodore   Eli   Hopkins,  A.   B.   1895 WinooskJ 


REGISTRATION  305 

William   Herman   Hopkins,  A.   B.  1885. .  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 

Ezra  Meech  Horton,  1892    Burlington 

Cephas  Apollos  Hotchkiss,  1856    East   Georgia 

Harry    Stinson    Howard,    1897 Burlington 

Carlton    Dexter   Howe,   A.    B.    1898 Newfane 

Fayette  Elmore  Hubbard,  B.   S.  1904 Burlington 

Frederick  William  Hubbard,  A.  B.  1900.  Springfield,  Mass. 
Mrs.  Mary  W.  H.  Hubbard,  A.  B.  1900.  .Springfield,  Mass. 
Samuel   Thatcher  Hubbard,  A.  B.  1904.  .Rutland 

Harry  Pratt  Hudson,  B.  S.  1902 Rensselaer,    N.    Y. 

Harold   Irving  Huey,   B.    S.   1904 Springfield 

Roger  William  Hulburd,  A.  B.  1882 Hydepark 

Chauncey  Earle  Hunt,   M.   D.   1904 Montpelier 

Leigh   Hunt,    B.    S.    1895 Proctor 

Ada  Almina  Hurlburt,   A.   B.   1899 Burlington 

Minnie  Hodges  Hurley,  1897    Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Abbott  T.  Hutchinson,  A.B.1902.M.D. 1905. Burlington 
Merrill   Marquand  Hutchinson,  A.B.  1895. New  York  City 

Albert  Franklin  Isham,  M.  D.  1882 Caldwell,    Idaho 

Arthur  Smith  Isham,  1888    Burlington 

Edward  Sprague  Isham,  A.  B.  1889 Burlington 

Elwin  LeRoy  Ingalls,  A.  B.  1896 Vergennes 

Frederick  K.  Jackson,  A.B. 1897,  M.D.1899. Burlington 

Horatio  Nelson  Jackson,  M.  D.  1893 Burlington 

Samuel  N.  Jackson,  M.  D.  1871 Burlington 

Arthur  Lee  Janes,  1887 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

DeForest  Clinton  Jarvis,   M.  D.  1904 Burlington 

Walter  Minot  Jenkins,  B.  S.  1904 Springfield 

James  Nathaniel  Jenne,  M.  D.  1881 Burlington 

Charles  Kimball  Johnson,   M.   D.  1899. ..  Burlington 
Elizabeth  Converse  Johnson,  A.  B.  1902.  Burlington 

Robert  William  Johnson,  M.  D.  1898 Burlington 

Wait  C.  Johnson,  A.  B.  1899,  Lt.  U.  S.  A.San   Antonio.    Texas 

Alanson  Halden  Jones,  A.   B.  1904 Burlington 

Eva  Addie  Jones,  A.  B.  1895 Burlington 

Erwin    Byron   Jones,   A.   B.   1894 Burlington 

James  Chesterfield  Jones,  A.  B.  1900 Swanton 

Lucius  Hinckley  Jones,  B.  S.  1904 Burlington 

John  A.  Kasson,  A.  B.  1842,  LL.  D.  1888. Washington,    D.    C. 

Arthur  Leon  Kelley,  B.  S.  1902 Lowell,   Mass. 

Linwood  Major  Kelley,  M.  D.  1904 Richford 


306  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Nelson   Kellogg,   A.   B.   1902 Plattsburg,    N.    Y. 

Ira  Phelps  Kellogg,  jr.  A.  B.  1903 Monkton 

Charles  A.  Kent,  A.  B.  1856,  LL.  D.  1904. Detroit,  Mich. 

Charles  Allen  Kern,   B.   S.   1901 Burlington 

Walter  Pope  Kern,   B.  S.   1897 Passaic,    N.    J. 

Fred  T.  Kidder,  A.  B.  1880,  M.  D.  1883.  .Woodstock 

Joseph  Benjamin  Kidder,  B.  S.  1896 Proctor 

Mabel    Electa    Kidder,    1897 East   Hardwick 

Henry  Jennings  Kilbourn,  A.  B.  1893 Bradford 

Mrs.  Ella  E.  A.  Kilburn,  A.  B.  1889 Arlington,  N.   J. 

Earl   Brush   Kingsland,   1903 Vergennes 

Darwin   P.   Kingsley,   A.B.1881,LL.D.1904.Riverdale,  N.  Y.  Cit3 

John  Charles  Kirley,   B.  S.  1904 ..Sheldon 

Edward  Cloyd  Kistler,  M.  D.  1904 Blaine,  Pa. 

Charles  E.  Lamb.  A.  B.  1893,  A.  M.  1899.  Lawrence,    N.    Y. 
Katrina  Margarita  Landt,  Ph.  B.  1894. . .  Waterbury 

Walter   Orin   Lane,    1895 Burlington 

Forrest  Metcalf  Larchar,  B.   S.  1902.  . .  .  Wareham,  Mass. 

Arthur  Leo  Larner,  M.  D.  1904 Burlington 

George  Eugene  LaTour,  M.  D.  1904 Burlington 

James  Francis  Lawlor,  M.  D.  1904 East  Douglas,  Mass. 

Robert  Ashton  Lawrence,  A.  B.  1899 ....  Rutland 

Frederick  Barnby  Leach,  1891 Richford 

George  Murray  Leach,  B.  S.  1904 Fletcher 

Mrs.  Anna  L.  D.  Learnard,  Ph.  B.  1889.  .Lawrence,    Kan. 

Adelle   Irene  Lee,  A.   B.  1897 Lewis,  N.  Y. 

George  Samuel  Lee,  Ph.  B.  1901 Irasburg 

Robert  Henry  Lee,  M.  D.  1904 Dorset 

Rebecca  Lavinia  Leeke,  A.  B.  1880 Plattsburg,    N.    Y. 

Abbie  Katharine  Leonard,  A.   B.   1898. ..  Burlington 
Lothair   Lewis   Leonard,   M.    D.    1904.  ..  .North  Calais 
William  Franklin  LeMaire,  M.  D.  1904.  .Taunton,  Mass. 

Frank  Clark  Lewis,  M.  D.  1902 Burlington 

Harry  Edwin  Lewis,  M.  D.  1897 Burlington 

George  Warren  Libby,  M.  D.  1896 Burlington 

Anna  Mary  Lilley,  A.   B.   1902 Hydepark 

Frederick  Fuller  Lincoln,  Ph.  B.  1897... New  York  City 

Frances  Louise  Little,  Ph.  B.  1904 Burlington 

William  Wallace  Livingston,  A.  B.  1856.  Jaffrey,  N.   H. 
Albert  D.  Longe,  C.  E.  1894,  M.  D.  1896.  .Newport 
Frank  Paul   Lord,  1890    Burlington 


REGISTRATION  307 

Mrs.   Marion  Mclntyre  Loudon,  1899. ...  Burlington 

Maitland  Clair  Lovell,  1896 Springfield 

William  Brown  Lund,  A.  B.  1861 Burlington 

Elias  Lyman,  A.   B.   1870    Burlington 

William  Anderson   Lyman,  M.   D.   1894. .  Burlington 

Ernest  Nelson  McColl,  B.  S.  1901 New  York  City 

Durant  Loomis  Macrae,  A.  B.  1904 Burlington 

Flurence  William  McCarthy,  M.  D.  1904. East  Dickinson,  N.   Y. 
Lewis  Flurence  McCarthy,  M.  D.  1904. .  .Northfield 
Herbert  Sawyer  McCausland,  M.  D.  1904.Redford,    N.    Y. 

Harris  David  McDonald,  A.  B.  1901 Swanton 

James  Parks  MacDowell,  M.  D.  1904 Penn  Yan,  N.   Y. 

Margaret  Elizabeth   McElroy,  Ph.  B.  1901.Bakersfield 
Henry  Moses  McFarland,  A.  B.   1878. . .  .Hydepark 
Edward  Rodwick  B.  McGee,  M.  D.  1904.  .Berlin,  N.  H. 

Herbert  Miller  Mcintosh,  C.  E.  1890 Burlington 

Henry  Blodgett   Mclntyre,    1900 Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Warren  William  Mack,  B.  S.  1904 Hardwick 

Walter  Franklin  McKenzie,  M.  D.  1894 . .  Burlington 
Chester  Bentine  McLaughlin,  A.  B.  1879, 

LL.  D.  1904    New  York  City 

Patrick  Henry  McMahon,  M.  D.  1894 Burlington 

Friend  Alonzo  McMurtry,  B.  S.  1904. . .  .Vergennes 
James  Hervey  Macomber,  A.  B.  1890. ..  .Burlington 
Patrick  Eugene  McSweeney,  M.  D.  1886.  Burlington 

George  Frederick  Marsh,  1901   Chester 

Howard  Harrington  Marsh,  B.  S.  1903.  .Chicago,    111. 

Joseph  Walker  Marsh,  A.   B.   1857 Forest   Grove,   Ore. 

Roy  William  Marshall.   B.   S.   1904 Rutland 

George  C.  Martin,  C.  E.  1882,  Lt.  U.  S.  A. 

Sarah  Ann  Martin,  Ph.  B.  1876 Burlington 

Martha    Ernestine    Matthews,    1883 Burlington 

Samuel  E.   Maynard,   1891,   M.   D.  1891. .  Burlington 

Lillian  Etta  Mears,   Ph.   B.  1904 Gloucester,  Mass. 

Walter  Henry  Merriam,   Ph.  B.  1889 Cleveland,    O. 

Charles  Palmer  Merrill,  B.  S.  1903 Fairfield 

James   Henry   Middlebrook,    1887 Burlington 

Crosby  Miller,  1903    Burlington 

Floyd  Arkley  Miller,  B.  S.  1902 Washington,   D.    C. 

Lawrence  Sprague  Miller,  1894,  U.  S.  A..  Burlington 
Effie   Moore,    A.    B.    1876 Burlington 


308  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

John  Clifford  Morgan,  A.  B.  1890 Stowe 

James  Swan  Morrill,  A.   B.   1880 Washington,   D.    C. 

Lawrie  Byron  Morrison,  M.  D.  1902 Burlington 

George  Glenn  Morse,  B.  S.  1902 Morrisville 

Howard  Fellows  Morse,   M.   D.   1904 Center    Harbor,    N.    H. 

Warner  J.  Morse,  B.  S.  1898,  M.  S.  1903.  Burlington 

Walter  Towne  Mott,  Ph.  B.  1898 Toledo,    O. 

Fred  Willis  Mould,  Ph.  B.  1891 Morrisville 

Charles  Herrick  Mower,   1894    Burlington 

Edmund  C.  Mower,  A.  B.  1892,  A.M.  1904.  Burlington 

Levi  Miller  Munson,  A.  B.  1902 Morrisville 

Charles  Tidd  Murray,  B.  S.  1900 Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

William- Wallace  Murray,  B.   S.  1897 Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

Florence  Eliza  Nelson,  Ph.  B.  1901 Burlington 

Mabel  Nelson,  Ph.  B.  1899 Burlington 

Charles  Palmer  Newton,  M.   D.   1881. . . .  Andover,  Mass. 

Walter  Russell  Newton,  A.  B.  1881 Andover,  Mass. 

Mrs.  Clara  H.  Pease  Newton,  A.  B.  1880. Andover,  Mass. 

Daniel   Joseph   Nolan,   M.   D.   1904 Burlington 

Michael  Joseph  Noone,  M.  D.  1904 Scranton,   Pa. 

Clarence  Elbert  Noyes,  Ph.  B.  1898 Randolph 

Harry  Albert  Noyes,   A.   B.   1893 Hydepark 

Carolyn  Bailey  Nye,  1898    Burlington 

George  Bernard  O'Connell,   M.   D.   1904.  .Auburn,  Me. 

William  Allen  Orton,  B.   S.  1897 Washington,   D.    C. 

Mrs.  Ella  Seaver  Owen,  A.  B.  1876 Burlington 

Frank  W.  Page,  A.  B.  1864,  M.  D.  1866.  .  Boston,   Mass. 

Harry  Hathorne   Page,   A.   B.   1904 Hinesburg 

Russell    Smith   Page,  A.    B.    1899 Hydepark 

Mrs.  Adeline  E.  Edwards  Paris,  A. B. 1882.  Burlington 

Fred  Jonathan  Park,  B.   S.   1901 Lyndonville 

Frank  Haswell  Parker,  C.   E.  1874 Burlington 

Earl    Elkins    Parker,   B.    S.    1901 Bane 

Walter  Demerit  Parsons,  A.  B.  1890 Woodstock 

Roy  Leonard   Patrick,  Ph.   B.   1898 Burlington 

Roscoe  Freeman   Patterson,  B.   S.  1904.  .Newbury   Center 

Arthur   Dwight  Pease,   1893 Burlington 

Clifford  Atherton  Pease,  M.  D.  1899 Burlington 

Cassius  Reuben  Peck,  A.   B.   1902 Burlington 

Hamilton   Sullivan   Peck,   A.   B.   1870 Burlington 

John  Morie  Perham,  C.  E.  1890 St.  Johnsbury 


REGISTRATION  309 

Harry  Bradford  Perkins,  M.  D.  1903 Burlington 

Henry  Farnham  Perkins,  A.  B.  1898 Burlington 

Dean  Homer  Perry,  A.  B.  1901 Barre 

Frank  Asbury  Petty,  1877,  M.  D.  1885. ..  Fairfax 

Henry  Curtis  Petty,  A.  B.   1893 Champlain,    N.    Y. 

Leon  Marsh  Phelps,  B.  S.  1904 East  Highgate 

Albert  Gallatin  Pierce,  1853   Burlington 

Charles  Henry  Pierce,  B.  S.  1904 Royalton 

Dana    Joseph    Pierce,    1900 Burlington 

William    Sullivan    Peirce,    1885 Springfield,    Mass. 

Carl  Stone  Pomeroy,  Ph.  B.  1904 Enosburg  Falls 

Arthur  Edward  Pope,  B.  S.  1904 Burlington 

Florence  Nichols  Post,  A.  B.  1903 St.  Albans 

John  Lyman   Potter,  M.   D.   1904 Island  Pond 

Edward  Henry  Powell,  1864,  A.  M.  1884.  Burlington 

Max  Leon  Powell,  A.  B.  1889 Burlington 

Thomas  Reed  Powell,  A.  B.  1900 Burlington 

George  McClellan  Powers,  A.  B.  1883.  . .  .Morrisville 

Horace  Henry   Powers,  A.  B.  1855 Morrisville 

Charles  Ai  Pratt,  M.   D.  1904 Franklin 

Nathaniel  Miller  Pratt,  A.  B.  1893 Monson,    Mass. 

John  Oliver  Presbury,  B.  S.  1899 Burlington 

Carolyn  Louise  Preston,  A.  B.  1904 Felchville 

William  Eli  Putnam,  B.  S.  1902 Birmingham,   Ala. 

Perley  Orman  Ray,  A.  B.  1898 Burlington 

John  William  Redmond,  A.  B.  1886 Newport 

Henry  Stanley  Renaud,  B.  S.  1901 Brooklyn,  N.   Y. 

Herbert   Henry   Reynolds,   M.    D.    1890..  Malone,  N.  Y. 

Don  Martin  Rice,  B.  S.  1902 Philadelphia,   Pa. 

Frank  Abiram  Rich,  M.  D.   1893 Burlington 

Irving  Lyman  Rich,  Ph.  B.  1902 Cambridge,    Mass. 

Emma  Richardson,  Ph.  B.  1904 Richmond 

Frederick  Albert  Richardson,  A.  B.  1895.  New  York  City 
Joseph  Warren  Richardson,  M.  D.  1903 . .  Burlington 
Clarence  Willard   Richmond,   B.  S.  1899.  Burlington 

Elizabeth  Agnes  Richmond,  1901 Burlington 

Emmet  Hawkins   Rixford,   1864    San    Francisco,    Cal. 

Merton   Casey  Robbins,   B.   S.   1898 Chicago,    111. 

Frederick  William  Roberts,  A.  B.  1896.  .Siasconset,  Mass. 

Robert    Roberts,    A.    B.    1869 Burlington 

Mrs.  Ruth  I.  Norton  Roberts,  Ph.  B.  1896.Shelburne 


310  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

George  Clark  Robinson,  C.  E.  1887 West  Rutland 

Herbert  George  Rockwell,  M.  D.  1896. ..  .Amherst,    Mass. 
Thomas   P.    White   Rogers,   B.    S.    1873..  Manchester,  N.  H. 

Jacob  Johnson   Ross,   B.   S.    1904 Huntington,    Mass. 

William  E.  Ross,  A.  B.  1904,  M.  D.  1904.  Franklin  Falls,  N.  H. 

Homer   Charles  Royce,  A.   B.   1884 St.  Albans 

Daisy  Lottie  Russell,  Ph.   B.   1903 Burlington 

Kate  Lena  Russell,  Ph.  B.  1899 Burlington 

May  Winifred  Russell,  A.  B.  1899 Burlington 

Marian  Brigham  Rustedt,  Ph.  B.  1898. .  .Richford 

Harry  Richard  Ryan,  M.  D.  1904 Rutland 

Delano  Richmond  Ryder,  M.  D.  19u4 Marion.    Mass. 

George  Millar  Sabin,  B.  S.  1896 Burlington 

Ide   Gill    Sargeant,    1898 Patterson,    N.    J. 

Arthur  Hayes  Sargent,  A.  B.  1904 East  Corinth 

Leslie  Manchester  Saunders,  Ph.  B.  1895. Dickinson  Center,  N.  Y. 

William  James   Sayward,   B.   S.   1897 New  York  City 

Jessie  Scott,  Ph.   B.   1896 Burlington 

Donald  Harris  Scribner,  A.  B.  1899 Hydepark 

Otis  White  Sedgwick,  M.  D.  1904 Bondville,  Mass. 

Evelyn   Kendall    Severance,    1902 Burlington 

Mrs.  Katharine  J.  Page  Sharp,  Ph.B.1897.Hinesburg 

Carlos  Adams  Shaw,  M.  D.  1899 Northfield 

Mrs.  Mary  Aurelia  Peck  Shaw,  Ph.B.1896. Northfield 

Charles  Jay  Shaw,  M.  D.  1904 Corinth,   N.   Y. 

Edward  Thomas  Shaw,  B.  S.   1904 East  Arlington 

Henry  Bigelow  Shaw,  Ph.  B.  1896 Burlington 

William  Warren   Shaw,  1886    Philadelphia,   Pa. 

Mrs.  Mary  W.  Hall   Sheldon,   Ph.  B.  1902. Rutland 

Anna    Brown    Shepard,    1901 Ticonderoga,   N.  Y. 

Annie  Laurie  Sherburne,  A.  B.   1897. ..  .North  Pomfrei 

John   Calvin   Sherburne,  A.    B.    1904 North    Pomfret 

Harry  Clyde  Shurtleff,  Ph.  B.  1895 Montpeliet 

Durrell    Clarence    Simonds,    1903 Burlington 

Mrs.  Edith  E.  Smith  Simpson,  Ph.  B.  1896Burlington 

Frank  Oscar   Sinclair,   C.   E.   1882 Burlington 

Helen  Frances  Slade,  Ph.  B.  1896 Thetford 

Fred    Milo   Small,    1896    Morrisville 

Eugene   Allen   Smalley,    1860 Colchester 

Azro   Andrus   Smith,   A.   B.   1856 Reading,    Mass. 

Walter  Perrin  Smith,  A.  B.  1867 St.    Johnsbury 


REGISTRATION  311 

Helen  Betsey  Somers,  Ph.  B.  1904 Irasburg 

Reuben   Lee   Soule,  1904 East    Fairfax 

Edward  Adams  Sowles,  A.  B.  1857 St.  Albana 

Sam  Sparhawk,  1890,  M.   D.   1893 Burlington 

Ernest  James   Spaulding,   1892 Burlington 

George  B.  Spalding,  A.B.  1856,  D.D.  1904. Syracuse,   N.   Y. 

Frank  Elijah  Spear,  M.  D.  1903 Burlington 

Irwin  Spear,  Ph.   B.   1904 Burlington 

George  Keith  Sprague,  E.   E.   1894 East  Brookfield 

Mrs.  Julia  W.  Parmenter  Sprague,  1896. East  Brookfield 

William  Corning  Stacy,  A.  B.  1859 Burlington 

Arthur  Duane  Stearns,  A.B.1902,B.S.1904.Burlington 

John  Brainerd  Stearns,  B.  S.  1891 Burlington 

Joseph  Tuttle  Stearns,  A.  B.   1896 Burlington 

Almon  Beede  Stetson,  B.  S.  1897 Maiden,  Mass. 

Charles  Hiram  Stevens,  C.  E.  1889 Winooskl 

Ethel  Marilla  Stevens,  Ph.  B.  1902 Williston 

Ralph  Aldace  Stewart,  Ph.  B.  1893 Worcester,    Mass. 

William  Becker  Stewart,  M.   D.   1904 Oneonta,  N.  Y. 

Arthur   Pierce   Stockwell,   1895 Cambridge,    Mass. 

Bingham  H.  Stone,  A.B.  1897,  M.D.  1899. Burlington 

Mason  Sereno  Stone,  A.  B.  1883 Poultney 

Edward   Dinwoodie  Strickland.A.B.  1894.  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Duncan  Stuart,  B.  S.  1898 Washington,   D.   C. 

William  Stuart,  B.  S.  1894 Lafayette,   Ind. 

Eulick  Francis   Sullivan,  M.   D.  1904. ..  .Three  Rivers,  Mass. 

Benjamin  Swift,  A.  B.  1886 Orwell 

Elihu  Barber  Taft,  A.  B.   1886 Burlington 

Henry  Lewis  Taft,   1898    Burlington 

Russell  Wales  Taft,  A.  B.  1898 Burlington 

Alvin  Mitton  Taylor,   B.   S.  1899 Shady  Side,  N.   J. 

Ernest  Albert  Taylor,  M.  D.  1904 Lunenburg 

Harry  Wallace  Trask,  M.  D.  1904 Worcester,  Mass. 

John  Wilson  Trask,  M.  D.  1904 Lynn,    Mass. 

Julius  Arthur  Tellier,  A.  B.   1902 Cambridge,    N.    Y. 

Charles  Paine  Thayer,  M.   D.   1865 Boston,   Mass. 

George  Zadoc  Thompson,   B.   S.   1895.  ..  .Proctor 

Henry  Crain  Tinkham,  M.  D.  1883 Burlington 

Daniel  Temple  Torrey,  A.   B.   1881 Providence,    R.    I. 

Henry  Augustus  Torrey,  A.  B.  1893 Cambridge,    Mass. 

Joseph  Torrey,  A.  B.  1852,  D.  D.  1879. .  Shirley,    Mass. 


312  UNIVERSITY    OF    VERMONT 

Phoebe   Maria  Towle,  1895 Burlington 

Charles  Amasa  Tracy,  A.  B.  1900 Burlington 

Mary  Louise  Tracy,  Ph.   B.  1903 Shelburne 

Leland   Ellis  Tupper,  A.  B.  1880 North    Craftsbury 

Marshall  Coleman  Twitchell,  M.  D.  1893  .Burlington 

Cornelia   C.    Underwood,    1883 Burlington 

Charles  Strain  Van  Patten,  A.  B.  1898. .  Burlington 

Guy  Robert  Varnum,  B.   S.   1904 Burlington 

Arthur  Montague  Vaughan,  B.  S.  1898.  .  Boston,   Mass. 
Mrs.  Belle  T.  Morse  Vaughan,  A.  B.  1899.  Boston,   Mass. 

Martin  Samuel  Vilas,  A.  B.  1894 Burlington 

Josiah  William  Votey,  C.  E.  1884 Burlington 

Mrs.   Emma  Luella  Lane  Votey,   1883. .  .Burlington 

Charles  Hugh  Waddell,  Ph.  B.  1903 Johnsburg,  N.  Y. 

Katherine  Grace  Wadleigh,   1897 East   Berkshire 

Harris  Hard  Walker,  A.  B.  1898 ..Burlington 

James  Obadiah   Walker,   Ph.  B.   1902 Burlington 

Harris  Ralph  Watkins,  M.  D.  1892 Burlington 

Henry   Wallace,   A.   B.   1903 Saratoga,   N.   Y. 

Daniel  Michael  Walsh,  B.  S.  1904 Rutland 

Henry  Landon  Ward,  A.  B.  1882 Burlington 

Samuel  Hahnemann  Waters,  A.  B.  1881.  Burlington 

Harry  Abel  Way,  Ph.   B.   1895 Burlington 

Arthur  Roy  Webster,  A.  B.  1897 Somerville,    Mass. 

Mrs.  Fanny  L.  Smith  Webster,  Ph.B.1899.Shelburne 

Olin  Warren  Webster,  B.  S.  1904 Irasburg 

Donald   C.Wedgeworth,   A.B.1897.B.S.1898. Buffalo,    N.    Y. 

Arthur  Day  Welch,  B.  S.  1902.. Sharon 

James  Arthur  Wellington,  B.  S.  1904. . .  .  Fitchburg,    Mass. 
Frank  Richardson  Wells,  Ph.  B.  1893.  ..  Burlington 

Ernest  Holley  West,  B.  S.  1896 Dorset 

Sydney  Farnsworth  Weston,  B.   S.  1896. New  York  City 

Charles  Nelson  Wilder,  A.  B.  1863 Champaign,    111. 

Charles    Romeo    Wilder,    1903 Burlington 

Henry  Lawrence  Wilder,  M.  D.  1897 Burlington 

Albert  Emerson  Willard,  A.  B.  1888 Burlington 

Arthur   LeRoy   Williams,  A.   B.    1904 Winchendon,  Mass. 

Georgianna   Maude   Williams,    1897 Burlington 

James  Cornelius  Wilson,  M.  D.  1904 Hartford,   Conn. 

Maurice  John  Wiltsie,  M.  D.  1898 Burlington 

Almon  Cassius  Wheeler,  1895 South  Burlington 


REGISTRATION  313 

Charles  Holmes  Wheeler,  Ph.  B.  1903 South  Burlington 

Henry  Orson  Wheeler,  A.  B.  1867 Burlington 

Henry  Orson  Wheeler,  jr.  A.  B.  1904.  ...  Burlington 

John  Brooks  Wheeler,  A.  B.  1875 Burlington 

John  Martin  Wheeler,  A.  B.  1902 Burlington 

James  Rignall  Wheeler,  A.  B.  1880 New  York  City 

Orville  Gould  Wheeler,  A.  B.  1900 Boston,    Mass. 

William  Thomas  Whelan,  B.  S.  1898 Montpelier 

Byron  Olin  White,  Ph.  B.  1873 Burlington 

Mrs.  E.  M.  Chandler  White,  Ph.  B.  1889. Windsor 
Albert  Gallatin  Whittemore,  A.  B.   1867. Burlington 

Alfred    Catlin    Whiting,    1874 Burlington 

Charles    Flagg    Whitney,    B.    S.    1897, 

M.  D.  1903,  M.  S.  1904 Williston 

George  Washington  T.  Whitney,  B.S.1897.Bryn    Mawr,   Pa. 
Joshua  Clarence  Whitney,  A.   B.  1859. .  .Chicago,    111. 

George  William  Winch,  A.  B.  1870 Holyoke,  Mass. 

Hannibal  Whitney  Wood,  A.  B.  1861 St.    Johns,   P.    Q. 

Charles  Lincoln  Woodbury,  C.   E.  1888.  .Burlington 

Edward    Philo   Woodbury,   1898    Burlington 

Urban  Andrian  Woodbury,  M.  D.  1859.  ..Burlington 

Frank  Edward  Woodruff,  A.  B.  1875 Brunswick,  Me. 

Clarence   Field    Worthen,    1903 Barre 

Clayton  John  Wright,  C.   E.   1886 Williston 

John  Stratton  Wright,  jr.  A.  B.  1903 New  York  City 

William    Henry   Zottman,   1882 Burlington 


[For  the  above  Registration  the  University  is  indebted  to 
the  indefatigable  Secretary  of  the  Associate  Alumni,  Charles 
E.  Allen,  1859.  who  has  spared  neither  time  nor  pains  to  render 
it  complete.  A  shorter  list,  arranged  by  classes,  appeared  in 
The   Vermonter  for  August,   1904.] 

[Erratum.     Page    122,    line   14,    read   the    "ethical   value   of 

contact   with   fact,"   and    of   P.   Gardner,    "Oxford   at   the   Cross 

Roads.-  pp.  87  ff.]  .---_•- 

.      ,    ■  *■     .  /■   \.  <  - 

Of  THE 


YD  16313 


x 


'-s&s&Sj 


V t  f  M  o , 


n 


«n 


V 

H 

S|i 

|||j 

lH! 

m 

?»s& 

'■-.  . 

!»«$ 

£j§& 

gSwSJIj 

£*& 


i?§&si 


Isll 


HGPg 


.  ■■ 


■■B 


l ,  ■. 


$§& 


Ip  BBBBBi 


1111111  IH9 


m 


■MM 


s  m  - 


B' 
^B^BBP 


Bl  B 

■  B 


,,■.:..... 

I   I     hHI  ^  x  MS 


IBM 


,-. 


HHH 


H 


K 


^M 


#1 


mbbsm 


•"••"■■■'■••       ■•■■■->' 

■■■■"'■■■■.''•■•''''•■'. 


